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One of the complaints about Iowa holding the first caucuses to choose the next president is that the largely white state is not representative of America. Nevertheless, the state is home to a growing number of Latinos. Latinos make up less than 6 percent of the population, but they are twice the size they were during the 2000 caucuses. And this year, for the first time, they're trying to systematically organize themselves to caucus. But as NPR's Asma Khalid reports, that is no easy task.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: At this caucus training session in Iowa City, presidential candidates are replaced by beans - literally bean dishes from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: A couple dozen Latinos are caucusing for these beans.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: So we have four. (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: The event is put on by LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. They've been knocking on doors, handing out flyers and organizing training sessions like this one. The goal is to make an arcane system relatable to new people.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: If your group does not have five, your group is not viable.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: In case you were wondering, there was a tie between pinto beans with bacon and pinto beans Colombian style. One of the people here is Manuel Galvez. He moved to Iowa 11 years ago, but has never caucused.
MANUEL GALVEZ: In the past, there were just few Latinos in Iowa.
KHALID: But now, he says, Latinos have the numbers to send a message if they get involved.
GALVEZ: The Latinos, they don't participate. Nobody pay attention to them. No Democratic Party or the Republican Party. And we believe that we can be here if we mobilize ourselves.
KHALID: Part of the challenge is that Iowa's Latino community is incredibly diverse. There are new immigrants coming from blue-collar jobs and second-generation millennials, like Vitalina Nova, who moved to Iowa in September for a gig as a librarian.
VITALINA NOVA: When I found out that there are majority-minority towns in Iowa, I thought that's really unique. How are they being represented and how come it seems to me that a lot of the white population doesn't know about this?
KHALID: She said just go east and you'll see how Latinos are changing the state. So I hopped in the car and turned on the radio, which in itself gives you a sign of how things are changing.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: And I drove to Muscatine County, where the Latino population essentially mirrors the country's demographics. Here, Latinos make up 17.2 percent of the population.
KARINA BELTRAN: I haven't heard anything about political caucus or whatever.
KHALID: I met Karina Beltran at a local bank. She's voted in presidential elections and says she wants to caucus but doesn't know how it works or where to go. LULAC's goal is to get at least 10,000 Latinos to caucus, but here in Muscatine County, you get a sense of how hard that may be.
Down the road at a Mexican restaurant, I met Yaridia Sosa and asked her if she knows about the caucuses.
YARIDIA SOSA: I heard the word, yes (laughter). But I don't know what it is.
KHALID: But even if someone did explain the process to her, it's a multi-hour time commitment on a Monday evening.
SOSA: I work here all day so I don't have any time to go. I don't have no one to cover for me.
KHALID: Just as I was about to walk away, Sosa mentioned that her daughter was going to see Hillary Clinton speak. And that level of political engagement in the young population may be a sign because regardless of whether 10,000 Latinos caucus on February 1, the Hispanic community here is young and will likely be a force in campaigns to come. Asma Khalid, NPR News, Des Moines.