RNC looks to court Hispanic voters

Washington (CNN) – The Republican National Committee on Monday announced the addition of six state directors intended to court Latino and Hispanic voters heading into the general election.

The representatives in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia will assume their positions by the end of April and lead get out the vote efforts aimed at reaching the largest growing population in the country.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said backing from the key voting bloc will come if the national party communicates effectively, given what he said were President Barack Obama's failures on the economy, jobs and the DREAM Act.

"I mean he promised the world and he delivered nothing," Priebus said on a conference call with reporters. "If we can deliver facts effectively then we win and that's what our goal is."

Priebus said the state directors will focus on cultivating ground support, which will include absentee and early voting programs, door-to-door efforts and victory centers for Spanish-speaking populations.

RNC Hispanic Outreach Director Bettina Inclan said Hispanic voters have been hit hardest by the "bleak economy" and are therefore looking for "policies to secure the American dream."

The Hispanic population in the United States has long swung Democratic, most recently supporting Obama and Joe Biden in 2008 by a margin of more than two-to-one over the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin, 67% to 31%.

However, that is a disparity the Republican Party hopes to combat through their renewed efforts and by pointing to the president's first term in office, most notably the inability to pass immigration reform.

Despite backing from the White House, in 2009 the DREAM Act, which would have provided U.S. residency for immigrant children with high school diplomas, failed in Congress.

Melanie Roussell, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said the RNC and Romney campaign are "playing catch-up in their outreach to Hispanic voters," who she said have heard Romney express "extreme" positions on immigration reform and economic security.

She pointed to Democratic infrastructure, which includes the DNC's senior adviser for Hispanic affairs, who also serves as a senior staff member and heads the DNC Hispanic Affairs team that includes six political and media relations staff.

She added the DNC has an active relationship with the Hispanic Caucus, aided by support from state Democratic parties.