LV group backs Richardson

Five buddies were hanging out in Mario Molina's garage one day this spring when, after a few cervezas, they got to talking: How can we help Bill Richardson get elected president of the United States?

"Me and my family, we support Bill," Molina said.

Just like that, "Mi Familia con Richardson" was born.

On Thursday, Molina and his buddies proudly watched their small grass-roots Hispanic outreach effort go national when presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson introduced it at a Bally's campaign stop.

"Que viva 'Mi Familia con Richardson!'" the governor said. "It's real, it's authentic, and it's the future. The Latino community in America is the future."

Molina teared up and placed one palm over his heart when asked how it felt to have his idea, hatched in a Las Vegas garage, embraced by the national Richardson campaign and the man himself.

"It feels like when you have a baby, and you're watching it grow," he said.

Molina, who owns an appliance repair business, and several of his friends started the whole thing with a few posters and a lot of talk on local Spanish-language radio. One friend, Xavier Rivas, is the host of a radio show, "Lo de aqui ... lo de alla" -- "Here and There" -- on KRLV-AM, 1340.

The guys talked about how much they like Richardson and encouraged others to support him.

"The fact that he's Hispanic is the icing on the cake," Hispanics in Politics President Fernando Romero said. "But the cake's ingredients are also fabulous."

Romero was enlisted early by Molina and other friends to help spread the word about Mi Familia.

Pretty soon, Richardson's national campaign staffers began calling.

"It caught us all by surprise," Romero said. "People really liked the idea."

Romero said the men wanted to help get Richardson's name out because "he's not the celebrity that others are."

"It had to be approached differently," he said. "In our culture, families get around the table to talk about things. You embrace the whole family, because the decisions they (political leaders) make affect the whole family."

The Mi Familia effort is designed to inspire families to get involved in the political process. The idea is for families who support Richardson to find at least five other supporters and together start their own chapter of Mi Familia. Members will be expected to help Richardson's campaign however they can.

"The family unit is the most important thing to Latinos," Richardson said on Thursday.

He emphasized, however, that Mi Familia, and his candidacy, reaches beyond the Hispanic community.

"All my life, I've tried to bring people together," he said. "I'm running for president for all Americans, but I'm enormously proud of being Latino."

During a busy day of Southern Nevada campaigning, Richardson emphasized his Hispanic roots nearly as often as he promised if he's elected, all Americans will have health insurance, the U.S. will withdraw immediately from Iraq and the country will soon have immigration reform that won't separate families.

"I am like you," he said in Spanish to a group of laundry workers during a morning appearance at the Culinary union. "I am of Mexican heritage."

His approach won at least one vote. Martha Bautista, a 53-year-old Mission Industries laundry worker originally from Mexico, said it was nice to see a candidate who understands her point of view.

She said the 2008 election will be the second time she can vote in the United States since becoming a citizen.

"Yes, I think I'll vote for him," she said of Richardson.

Richardson also met briefly on Thursday with Nevada Women for Richardson at the Democratic National Committee Unity Summit and attended a packed evening town hall meeting in Chinatown.