[MyLeva]

Excerpted from Politico.

Puerto Ricans’ escalating numbers already have helped Florida Democrats reach a crucial milestone: In 2008 — and for the first time in the state — more Hispanics registered as Democrats than as Republicans. In the latest state statistics, Democrats outpaced Republicans in Hispanic voter registration by 8 percentage points.

The 2010 census data released last month showed a dramatic 57 percent increase in Florida’s overall Hispanic population, far outpacing the 18 percent total population increase. The increase means Hispanics account for 23 percent of the state’s 18.8 million residents.

Some of the biggest Hispanic growth rates were seen in Orange and Osceola counties, located in the middle of the so-called I-4 corridor — the 133-mile highway that runs across the state’s peninsula through Tampa, Orlando and Daytona Beach.

Those two counties added more than 200,000 Hispanic residents over the course of the decade — an 83 percent increase in Orange County and a 141 percent increase in Osceola. By contrast, the Hispanic population of Miami-Dade County grew 26 percent. http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1Jb7jnfTS