Posted on Thu, Jul. 12, 2007

Miami will be at the epicenter of national Latino politics when the country's largest Latino civil rights organization descends on the city for its annual conference, but the top Republican presidential candidates are not expected to come.

The head of the National Council of La Raza visited Miami on Tuesday to promote the event and to launch a new push to mobilize Hispanic voters in the 2008 presidential election.

''It's now time for the community to engage deeper in civic engagement . . . to show our political muscle in the next elections,'' said the organization's president Janet Murguia at a press conference at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami.

The Ya es hora! (Now is the time!) campaign is the second part of an effort to naturalize, register and mobilize millions of immigrant voters -- most of them Hispanic -- for next year's presidential elections.

Spanish-language network Univisión and other South Florida community organizations have joined the push.

The July 21-24 conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center will include a naturalization drive and free voter mobilization workshops, as well as events on topics ranging from obesity to literacy.

The organization invited the top three Republican candidates -- Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani -- as well as the top three Democrats running for president, but the three Republicans have indicated they will not attend, La Raza officials said.

''We haven't given up, but we're very disappointed that the Republican candidates are not inclined to come,'' Lisa Navarette, La Raza's vice president of public information, told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview. ``We don't think that's the smart move.''

Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are among the La Raza conference speakers. Former Sen. John Edwards, ranking among the top three in the polls, has expressed interest but still has to work out scheduling conflicts, Navarette said.

Other conference speakers include Gov. Charlie Crist, Wal-Mart President Lee Scott and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Both the conference and the call to political action come as the Latino immigrant community tries to regroup after the defeat of immigration reform in Congress.

''If we've learned [anything] from the immigration debate . . . [it is] that we need to show our political muscle, we need to have our voices heard, and we need to hold our elected officials accountable,'' Murguia said.

This would be the second large Hispanic event snubbed by the Republican presidential candidates. None of the Republican candidates -- but all of the leading Democrats -- addressed the National Association of Latino and Elected Officials in Orlando last month. The association also has joined La Raza's voter drive.

Miami Herald political writer Beth Reinhard contributed to this report.