Video: Peña on Obama's Latino strategy

Federico Peña, who leads Barack Obama's nationwide outreach to Latinos, told PoliticsWest that, "You're going to see a lot of activity in the West, because we believe we can win the West. And it's going to be key to getting those 270 electoral votes."

Asked if McCain's position on immigration reform has given him inroads with Hispanics that would be tough for Obama to match, Peña said, "It was, until Sen. McCain changed his mind...he was for comprehensive immigration reform as a senator. Once he started running for president, he changed his mind. Now he wants to just do security along the border. And he sort of put the total reform package on the back burner."

On that and other issues such as energy and taxes, Peña said, "The Latino community is going to see right through that."

Peña, a former Denver mayor and former cabinet secretary in the Clinton Administration, also addressed questions of whether Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., could be a vice-presidential nominee, and whether he (Pena) might be interested in a role in an Obama administration.

Peña was interviewed Tuesday, following a campaign appearance in Denver by Maya Soetoro-Ng, half-sister of Obama.