Opinion: Hunter mending fences?

June 29, 2007 12:17 PM PT

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For a few hours this afternoon, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) found himself in an unusual minority -- as the only GOP presidential contender to accept an invitation to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in Orlando, Fla.

Most of the Democratic contenders will be there for a forum Saturday, but the GOP contenders took a pass, citing schedule conflicts. Some Republican Latinos dismissed the event as more of a Democratic retreat than a forum of independent Latino political figures.

Hunter’s decision to go is curious. He makes a show of his role in erecting a border fence to try to stem illegal immigration from Mexico -- not a popular position among Latino political leaders. But his address to the conference this afternoon got him something: a little attention, which his long-shot campaign needs as the Giuliani-McCain-Romney slugfest hogs most of the Republican spotlight.

--Scott Martelle

Picture: Rep. Duncan Hunter; Credit: Stefan Zalinepa/EPA

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Scott Martelle

Scott Martelle is a former Times staff writer and member of the editorial board. He also is the author of several nonfiction books on such disparate subjects as the Ludlow Massacre and 1913-14 Colorado coalfield war, the history of Detroit, and William Walker, the pre-Civil War American adventurer who for a brief time made himself president of Nicaragua.