LAS VEGAS — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rallied Latino voters and leaders yesterday and sought to make a dent in the union endorsements that so far have heavily favored rival Barack Obama.

Clinton and several Latino leaders chose the headquarters of the Sheet Metal Workers Local 88 to say she understands the growing Hispanic community's political needs. Obama is scheduled to announce today his lineup of supporting Latino leaders in California.

"She can make it happen. We can make it happen. You can make it happen. That's the difference in this election," said Henry Cisneros, a former Cabinet member for President Bill Clinton, Sen. Clinton's husband. "Adelante, Hillary Clinton!" he added, urging her "forward" in Spanish.

In appealing to Hispanics, Clinton, of New York, pledged improvements in education and healthcare and added that she would seek relief for homeowners at risk of losing their residences in what she labeled the nation's mortgage crisis.

"You're the fastest-growing state but you're also the highest foreclosure rate," Clinton said to about 200 Nevada supporters and precinct captains.

Dozens of participants later visited Las Vegas neighborhoods to encourage voters to attend the state's caucuses next Saturday.

DUELING CANVASSERS

In one example of how Clinton and Obama are battling clipboard-to-clipboard in Nevada, one Clinton canvasser, Irma Miller, was working in a North Las Vegas neighborhood when she happened upon on one house in which two Obama volunteers were already inside the door.

"The lady answered the door and said, 'Oh, Hillary, Hillary! I'm going to vote for her.' There were two Obama people inside and they got up and left," Miller, 67, a retired travel agent, recounted to a reporter following her and other volunteers, who confirmed the account.

Later, another voter approached by the canvassers, Rosa Montes, said she would vote for Clinton, but Montes added that she was impressed by the thousands of Obama supporters who turned out the night before at Del Sol High School.

"The place was packed. I saw all kinds of people — Hispanic, Asian, white. I thought it would just be African-American people," said Montes, who's Puerto Rican. "I think it's going to be close."

More than 1,000 people were unable Friday night to enter the high school gym, which was filled with more than 2,000 people. "We're in a defining moment of our history. Our nation is at war, our planet is at peril. This is our chance," Obama said.

Elsewhere, Obama, of Illinois, is promising healthcare reform in an ad running in Arizona that's notable for being his first ad in a state participating in Feb. 5's "Tsunami Tuesday," when more than 20 states will hold primaries or caucuses. Clinton has yet to air any of her ads for Feb. 5 contests, a spokesman said.

CLINTONS VEX CLYBURN

Meanwhile, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest ranking African-American in Congress whose state will hold a Democratic primary later this month, issued a written statement expressing displeasure with the Clintons over comments they've made about the importance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement and Obama's candidacy.

Clinton was questioned by reporters about Clyburn's reaction to her comments last week that seemed to suggest President Lyndon B. Johnson should get more credit for passage of major civil rights legislation rather than King.

Clyburn had expressed disappointment in the Clinton campaign over what she had said as well as former President Clinton's remark in New Hampshire about Obama telling a "fairy tale" in his opposition to the Iraq war.

"I regret the way that this matter has been used," Clinton told reporters. "The comments about it are baseless and divisive. I was personally offended at the approach taken that was not only misleading but unnecessarily hurtful."

She suggested reporters consider the sources of the criticism, much of which has come from the black community.

"I think it clearly came from Sen. Obama's campaign and I don't think it's the kind of debate we should be having in our campaign," she said.

The reaction to Clinton's remarks — and comments by surrogates for her candidacy — have riled many in the black community. On Friday, her husband called the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio program to say his comment about Obama telling a "fairy tale" about opposing the Iraq war has been misconstrued as a criticism of the senator's White House bid.

"There's nothing 'fairy tale' about his campaign. It's real, it's strong, and he might win," Clinton said in a phone interview for Sharpton's Radio One talk show.

Clinton said his "fairy tale" remark on the eve of the New Hampshire primary was only intended to describe Obama's claim to have exercised better judgment about the war, not as a sign of "personal disrespect."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.