To understand why Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is favored to keep her congressional seat even in a difficult election season for Republicans, watch her work a room full of voters.

On a recent trip to a local Jewish nursing home, Ros-Lehtinen reiterated her commitment to legislation benefiting Holocaust survivors and then, heading out the door, grabbed a cheese blintz for the road.

No plate needed, she told several supporters as she wrapped her snack in a napkin and announced plans to ``eat it like a taco.''

Then she stopped. ''That's not culturally insensitive, is it?'' a smiling Ros-Lehtinen asked. ``To eat it like a taco?''

The moment was light but intimate, a quick demonstration of Ros-Lehtinen's knack for establishing a personal connection with constituents, Jewish or Hispanic, young or old.

Ros-Lehtinen, a Pinecrest Republican, has built a double-digit lead in polls over her Democratic opponent, businesswoman Annette Taddeo. While fellow Republicans in South Florida are locked in tough battles to keep their seats, Ros-Lehtinen is pulling ahead.

A Florida International University Metropolitan Center/Univisión poll released last week gave Ros-Lehtinen a lead of 52 percent to 27 percent over Taddeo, with 21 percent undecided. Other polls have also shown Ros-Lehtinen well in front.

Pollster Fernand Amandi, whose firm is doing congressional polling on behalf of Democrats this year, acknowledged Ros-Lehtinen's appeal as ''a very touchy-feely congresswoman'' -- even as he cautioned against calling her unbeatable.

Factors such as the sour economy, demographic changes in the district, and a motivated Democratic base could lead to an election-day surprise, Amandi said.

''She's done a lot of work going after the different constituent groups, the different ethnic groups,'' said Amandi, an executive vice president at Bendixen and Associates.

Last week at Coral Gables High School, after the congresswoman spoke with teenagers considering a military career, she posed for the umpteenth photo with a student. A congressional aide held the teenager's purse.

''Danny!'' Ros-Lehtinen joked to the aide, without missing a beat. ``Get the cash and credit cards while I distract her!''

PROBLEM-SOLVING

Ros-Lehtinen has made constituent problem-solving a priority. Republican state Rep. Rene Garcia, a former Ros-Lehtinen intern, says he modeled his constituent-services efforts after those of his old boss -- even down to the forms his staff uses to jot all the information down.

''No problem was too small for her office,'' Garcia said. If a senior citizen needed help with translating a letter, ``that was important, you had to do that.''

Ros-Lehtinen's campaign account has reached nearly $1.3 million, according to the most recent campaign reports. Major donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, include more than $10,000 each from powerhouse law firms Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson and Greenberg Traurig, from Westchester General Hospital and from Dp Real Estate Holdings -- a company owned by former Miami-Dade School Board member Demetrio Perez Jr., who was removed from office in 2001 after a 21-count federal rent-fraud indictment.

Ros-Lehtinen was born in Havana, came to Miami at age 8, and was raised in the neighborhoods of Little Havana and Westchester. She graduated from Southwest Senior High School, and focused her college studies on the field of education -- earning bachelor's and master's degrees from Florida International University and a doctorate from the University of Miami.

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