Latino convention speeches a chance for presidential candidates to make inroads with Hispanic voters

>>> developing right now, want to show you live pictures from orlando, florida , where in 30 minutes , will speak to the national association of latino elected and appointed officials , also known as nah lay -- naleo. voters been waiting for mitt romney , an executive order giving if immigrants the opportunity to legally enter the workforce. this could be one of the candidate's final opportunities make gains within a pivotal part of thing elechter rat. telemundo's jose diaz -balart and maria theresa kumar join us now the immigration question, it certainly dogged mitt romney for months now, one of the more conservative stances he took during the primaries to shred that moderate label drawn fire his what i can we say in the next hour to try to allay any fears in the latino community, to know that he does have a plan and that he does feel that they belong under his tent, under the gop?

>> i think what he should do is basically have a bill clinton soul moment. embrace what barack obama did fallen shortly, only a temporary fix. if you like the me as president, i will work very closely with congress to ensure that we do have a permanent immigration fix and then go ahead and dive into the economy and jobs, exactly what latinos need to hear. the likelihood of him doing that turn off the republican base is likely that would help him. when you look at the polls, when president obama did extend this executive order for dreamers, what happens what happened is that independent voters overwhelmingly supported him, not just latinos but american voters did overall. so i think it would give him an opportunity to break that shell saying president obama , what he did was a good first step but if you elect me, i will go so much further.

>> jose, florida has been one of the more friendly states with the strong hispanic population for mitt romney but trailing among the voters in florida . new quinnipiac poll showing this. if a slumping economy is truly his only ticket there, is it smart for him to remain mum now almost a week after the the president came out with his executived or and the fact he has not deliver third type of response, rebuttal or specific plan?

>> thomas, a few answers to the questions, i think you have to remember that the economy may be getting better in some part bus the hispanic community, remains officially at 11%. if you look at the unemployment among hispanics in places like nevada, in florida and california and texas it is even higher. so, that is a very important issue, the economy, the lack of jobs, the crisis in the home mortgage situation, for example, is a big issue. but i agree that he has the opportunity now, mr. romney to say -- maybe not say he agrees with president obama 's decision announced last week but maybe he could say, you know what obama didn't go far enough on the important things, i'm going to go with what marco rubio has been working on, which is esense lay dream act light. a dream act light that would give these people that are here, illegally, brought here illegally through no fault of their own with their parents, been here before they were 16 years of age and give them the opportunity to study and then work afterwards and essentially go for their residency. marco rubio has laid out a game plan that the republicans could take up as their standard bear around not be obama 's, you know, agree with obama and yet have some proposal. so far, they really haven't had a very serious one.

>> jose, didn't the announcement of president obama and the executive order basically take out any of the thunder or potential thunder that marco rubio could have had and delivered to the gop?

>> yeah not so i thisty took out all the thunder that marco rubio had been preparing for. let me give you, if i could, something we don't often talk about in english. i love maria theresa 's thoughts on this what the administration is saying in a goodwill form is saying, kids that have not been arrested, detained, they aren't on anybody's radar screen, the next 60 days, they can come out from under the shadows, say i am qualified to fall under the parameters set by the administration and they won't be deported but their parents could be deported and what essential think would do is register the kids as being undeportable for two years but their parents that can be deport ready essentially going to be on the radar screen. i think those are little issues that politically could play in the latino community. but first, first, mitt romney has to say what he believes as far as immigration reform , which he hasn't really done.

>> maria, has this made your job easier with voter latino to get people registered?

>> there's definitely -- closing the enthusiasm gap, i think what's happening what president obama did so smartly is not only deflate the rubio policy but said, look, congress not wanting to act, i can do something limited, own the media cycle and have my conversation one-on-one with the latino community and the latino community household. i think that is going to be the most important. tend of the day it is about how you treat a voter, recognizing where they are coming from and now what they are going to look from the president we need to you talk about jobs and the economy as well.

>> we are going to know what officially comes out of mares mouth in about 20 minute there is in the naleo. great to see both of you.

>>> a programming note for everybody, senator marco rubio is going to be on " andrea mitchell reports" this afternoon at 1 p.m . eastern time here on msnbc. tune in for that.