To compare Blacks and Hispanics is to engage in a flawed analysis. First, while African-Americans have been and remain America’s largest racial group, Hispanics are part of an ethnic group, not a racial one. Therefore, a Hispanic can be Black, White, Asian or of any race. Furthermore, 1.7 million Blacks identified themselves as Hispanic. If they were officially counted as Black, African-Americans would still outnumber Hispanics, though not for long.

According to a recent Census report, the first since the 2000 tally, the U.S. population grew by 2.5 percent to 288.4 million from the time of the April 2000 census to July 2001. Non-Hispanic Blacks grew up 3.1 percent, to 36.6 million, over that period. Meanwhile, the Latino population grew at 9.8 percent, a rate faster than all other groups, to 38.8 million.

As the Republican Party targets more Latinos, the New York Times/CBS poll shows that there are political landmines for both major parties.

The good news for George Bush is that while Latinos favor the Democratic Party over the GOP by a large margin, they approve of Bush’s job performance 52 percent to 38 percent. They also support key Republican issues, such as tax cuts and school vouchers.

But Democrats can take heart because Hispanics are twice as likely to identify themselves as Democrats and by an overwhelming margin — 49 percent to 21 percent —feel the Democratic Party is more likely to care of their needs than Republicans. As the Bush administration touts a smaller federal government, 75 percent of Hispanics said they want a larger federal government that provides expanded services.

While African-Americans vote Democratic 80 percent to 90 percent of the time, Hispanics are far less homogeneous politically and culturally. And they are far more likely to identify with their country of origin rather than as Hispanic or Latino. According to the Census Bureau, two thirds of all Latinos here (66.9 percent) list their country of origin as Mexico; 14.3 percent are from Central and South America; 8.6 percent are Puerto Rican; Cubans represent 3.7 percent and 6.5 percent come from other countries. Politically, Mexicans in California and Puerto Ricans in New York tend to be liberal on social issues, while Cubans in Florida tend to be staunch conservatives. Thus, there is no one size that fits all.

On another level, Hispanics, regardless of their leanings, are more conservative than the overall population on such hot-button issues as abortion and same-sex marriages. And Bush is trying to solidify his conservative base and appeal to Hispanic voters by supporting legislation that only recognizes marriages between males and females.

The sleeper in next year’s election might be how Democrats handle or mishandle issues important to the religious community. And I am not talking about the Pat Robertses or the Jerry Falwells of the world. I am talking about the everyday people who sit next to you in church on Sunday.

I am surprised by the number of politically liberal African-American Christians who have told me that they either voted for George Bush the last time out or did not cast a ballot because of Al Gore’s position on such issues as abortion. These are people who are strong proponents of affirmative action and civil rights but don’t like the positions Democrats take on “moral” issues.

“I don’t have anything against gays, I don’t think people should discriminate against them, but I don’t believe we should sanction gay marriages,” a loyal Democrat told me recently. And although the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a Texas sodomy law that prohibited homosexual acts between consenting adults, public opinion remains almost evenly divided on the issue.

Strategically, the Democratic Party can’t afford to alienate Blacks, its most loyal base. While Hispanics are being labeled America’s “largest minority” group, that does not translate into the largest clout at the polls. It is estimated that one of seven Hispanics is in this country illegally, many others can’t vote because they are not naturalized citizens and still others are simply too young to vote. According to the Pew Hispanic Center at the University of Southern California, there are twice as many Black voters as Hispanic voters. Hoopla aside, African-Americans still have the clout at the ballot box. Now, all we have to do is exercise it.