In California, Hispanics make up about 40 percent of the population, and they are expected to account for about 20 percent of the Democratic vote on Tuesday. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are working hard to win over that key constituency.

When Obama spoke Thursday to a crowd at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, he briefly became bilingual.

Obama’s call of “si se puede” — or “yes we can” — has a special resonance for many Latinos who remember when the phrase became the rallying cry for Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers union in the 1970s.

“I’m very enthusiastic, the way he has embraced our rallying cry of ‘si se puede,’ ” says Obama volunteer Francisco Sola, a computer programmer. “He called [it] a timeless creed.”

Alfredo Figueroa, assistant dean of students at the University of California-Riverside, is another Obama volunteer.

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