They may have known the potential power of Latino votes all along, but both sides in the November campaign have suddenly turned their Latino PR campaigns up a notch.

This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger is visiting Anaheim to receive support from a group of “statewide bipartisan Latino organizations” (the quote is from his press release).

Just 17 minutes after that notice landed in my e-mail in box last night, the anti-Arnold Alliance For A Better California sent out a memo of their own, saying that La Opinion, “the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper”, is now urging a “no” vote on three of the governor’s initiatives: Proposition 74 (teachers), Proposition 75 (union dues), and Proposition 76 (budget).

The courting of Latino voters is an interesting dynamic… not only because of their growing presence in the population, but also because recent statewide polls have shown pretty small support among Latinos for the governor.