Another whirlwind weekend is coming up for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.  This time, all the excitement is right here in San Diego, with the National Council of La Raza’s 40^th anniversary conference at the San Diego Convention Center. The schedule calls for Obama to be the headliner at Sunday’s brunch and McCain to be the attraction at Monday’s luncheon.

With more than 20,000 community organization leaders, activists, politicians, business executives, educators and philanthropists expected to participate this year, the event is billed as the single largest gathering of its kind in the Latino community. Both presidential contenders acknowledge the importance the nation’s largest and fastest growing minority group.  At 46 million, Hispanics make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population and this year they will comprise about 9 percent of the eligible electorate nationwide, or about 18 million eligible voters -- an increase of 2 million from four years ago.