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      *A Republican Party leader in New Mexico has caused members of his own party to call for his resignation after suggesting in an interview that Hispanics will never vote for a black presidential candidate.

       Fernando C. de Baca, the chairman of Bernalillo County Republicans, was quoted by BBC reporter Jon Kelly on Friday as saying that even though the polls show Barack Obama with a substantial lead over John McCain among Hispanic voters, "The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. ... Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

       The Hispanic community is expressing anger over the remarks. Ralph Arellanes of the Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico told CNN, "I'm insulted and I'm outraged." The chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, Allen Weh, told KOAT News in Albuquerque that "the comments were inappropriate, they were offensive to a lot of people" and stated that de Baca needs to step down for the good of the party.

       The Obama campaign issued a statement by the speaker of the New Mexico House, Democrat Ben Lujan, saying, "I am outraged. ... It is an insult to the Hispanic community and to all of the voters of New Mexico."

       C. de Baca told KKOB radio reporter and blogger Peter St. Cyr that Kelly took his comments “totally out of their historical context.”        

       “The point I was trying to make was that there is a generational difference between those folks who were born before the civil rights and those born in more recent periods,” C. de Baca told St. Cyr, adding, “In my humble opinion, the older set of Hispanics would probably not vote for a black for president, but that the younger ones would flock to vote for (Obama), conceivably.”

       C. de Baca also told St. Cyr that his comments came in response to a question from Kelly, who he said asked him “to help him understand the history of New Mexico, vis-à-vis Hispanics, and how they interacted with the Native Americans and blacks, you know, African-Americans.”      

       Kelly denies C. de Baca's explanation, telling the New Mexico Independent: “He raised the subject, not me.”