LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Democrats ramping up efforts to court Hispanic voters in Western states sent New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Nevada over the weekend to make the case that his party's presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, will do more to fix immigration than his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain.

Richardson, a Hispanic who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination earlier this year, met Saturday with local Hispanic leaders in North Las Vegas, went to a soccer tournament sponsored by Spanish-language television network Telemundo and spoke to Clark County Democrats at a dinner.

"John Kerry lost Ohio," Richardson said, referring to the Democratic senator who lost a bid for the presidency in 2004 to President Bush. "If he had won Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, he would be president today. I think the key to the election are these three Western states — and the margin of victory is in the Hispanic vote."

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee are expecting to spend $20 million nationally to rally Latino voters. Campaign officials say they are speaking to voters in Spanish and seeing them face-to-face to make their case for the Illinois senator.

McCain is also seeking the Hispanic vote, and has released an ad promoting the Arizona senator as a leader in immigration reform. The campaign also plans to air an ad during the Alma Awards, an entertainment awards show honoring Hispanics, in which McCain says immigrants are "symbols of hope" and promises "practical and fair" immigration laws.

Fernando Romero, a Democrat and president of Hispanics in Politics, said a surge of support justified the creation of a "Hispanic Democrats for McCain" group.

"We realize borders need to be secured. We realize it's not amnesty," Romero said. "But this is a man who has a record of helping the Hispanic community versus someone who has no history."