The Miami Herald
Posted on Wed, Dec. 31, 2003  

Dean gets backing of leading lawmaker
Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the House, supports Howard Dean's presidential bid.
BY FRANK DAVIES
fdavies@herald.com

WASHINGTON - The only Cuban-American Democrat in Congress, Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, endorsed Howard Dean for president
 Tuesday as the former Vermont governor stepped up efforts to seek Hispanic support.

Menendez, the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the House, said he was not supporting his former House leader, Dick Gephardt,
 because Dean would ''energize voters, including Hispanics'' on issues of education, healthcare and immigration.

Dean ''also spoke out against the war in Iraq when it was not necessarily popular,'' Menendez added, while Gephardt supported it.

Menendez said he was comfortable with Dean's position on Cuba and the U.S. embargo, which has shifted in the past year, and planned
 to ''proselytize'' for Dean among Cuban voters in Florida and New Jersey.

Dean said in August that while he wanted to ease the embargo in return for human-rights concessions in Cuba, ''we can't do it right
 now'' because of the Fidel Castro's crackdown on dissidents.

''The governor is open-minded on Cuba policy, but I appreciate his position that the policy should not be changed as long as Castro
 does not change,'' Menendez said.

Dean recently picked up the endorsements of several Democratic leaders in Puerto Rico, including Rep. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.

Six other Democratic members of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress support Dean: Nydia Velázquez of New York, Raúl Grijalva of
 Arizona, and Loretta Sanchez, Xavier Becerra, Lucille Roybal-Allard and Hilda Solis of California.

Puerto Rican voters in Central Florida and Cuban Americans could be a crucial factor in the March 9 Democratic presidential primary
 in Florida and in the general election.

Gwen Graham Logan, Sen. Bob Graham's daughter who is working for Dean, said ``Menendez's endorsement will be very influential among
 Cuban Americans in Florida.''