Today's endorsements from Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy could help Barack Obama with a key Democratic constituency that to date has been solidly in the camp of Hillary Clinton: Latino voters.

Exit polls showed that Clinton overwhelmingly won the Latino vote in the Nevada caucus and pre-election polls show that she is leading substantially among Latino voters in California.

The Kennedy name is revered among many Latinos, who were instrumental in the coalition that helped the late Robert Kennedy to win the California Democratic primary in 1968. Even today, nearly 46 years after his assassination, former President John Kennedy remains an icon in Latino households, in which his photograph often can be found on the wall alongside Catholic religious icons. The campaigns of both men benefited from aggressive "Viva Kennedy" campaigns in Latino neighborhoods across California.

Kenneth Burt, author of a recent book on the history of Latino politics in California, reminded me of the significance of the Kennedy endorsement in an e-mail today. To underscore that significance, Burt has posted on his website a video clip of the first campaign commercial directed at Latino voters: a 1960 television ad in which Jacqueline Kennedy delivers an appeal in Spanish.