Washington: A record 9.2 million Latino voters will cast ballots in the US elections in November, projections released on Thursday by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials found.

The influential group known as Naleo also released a report showing that Hispanic voters are most concerned about the economy, the Iraq war, access to affordable health care, education issues, and immigration reform.

The expected surge in Hispanic voters follows an aggressive campaign by Naleo and other Latino groups and Spanish-language networks to promote citizenship and voter registration.

"We are at the turning point of history," said Adolfo Carrion, president of Naleo. "We are the fastest-growing sector of this country."

The group kicked off its annual conference in the nation's capital with big-name speakers, showing the growing importance of Hispanics in the election. Both major party presumptive nominees — Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican John McCain of Arizona — will speak at the convention today.

Political analysts say that Latinos could be a crucial voting bloc in several contested states, such as Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida.

Key to the White House

"Latinos hold the key to the White House," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat from California. "Latinos will decide who will be the next president of the United States."

Pelosi squeaked out a speech despite a major case of laryngitis. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, and Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat from New Jersey, also addressed the conference. But the strongest applause, and a long standing ovation, went to Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, who scored big among Latino voters in the presidential primaries.

Carrion introduced Clinton in Spanish as "our friend, our sister, the defender of Hispanics in the United States" and "the champion of Hispanics".

Clinton thanked Latinos for their support during her hard-fought yet unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination and urged them to vote for her rival, Obama.

"I was moved by the millions of Latinos who participated, from New York and New Jersey to South Texas and California," she said. "There was an activism and involvement that I haven't seen before."

Glowing terms

She also said that the lives of Latinos and all Americans in general would improve if Obama were elected president and she called him a man of "passion and determination".

"We have to win this," she said. "We cannot allow for four more years of the same. It won't be good for any of us."

Clinton also vowed that an Obama presidency would bring an immigration reform that includes an "earned path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants, stronger border security, and worker protections against possible exploitation.

As she spoke, a woman in the crowd screamed, "We love you, Hillary." Clinton answered, "I love you, too."

Nationwide, the number of Hispanics eligible to vote increased from about 14 million in 2000 to 17 million in 2006, according to the Pew Hispanic Centre, a non-partisan research group in Washington. However, registration among Latinos has traditionally been low. In 2004, about 16 million Latinos were eligible to vote, but only 7.6 million cast ballots.

The Naleo projection of 9.2 million Latino voters is similar to other estimates.

A higher estimate came earlier this month from NDN, a liberal public interest group in Washington. It predicted that a record 11.9 million Hispanics would vote this year.

By Eunice Moscoso, The New York Times Service

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Latino voters 'at the turning point of history'