Actually Hispanics were a "toss-up" until the recession recently-look at how much support Bush got from Hispanics back in '04.
You're young. Things from the 90s might seem distant to you, since I'm sure you don't remember much of anything from that distant past. But it's relatively recent. The trend in the 90s was a decreasing Hispanic vote for the GOP, until 2000, when Bush received very little support from them. He made some ground with them, so he got a bit more support in 2004; this was not reflected in 2008.
If you go back before that, however, Hispanics
are a traditionally Republican group. And that's what my POD is. Republicans never lose the Hispanic vote, or even see declining support amongst Hispanics. Instead, they
increase that support. That gives a
huge boost in California elections, which are actually closer than you might think (not as close as Virginia or Pennsylvania, but it's much more of a swing state than DC, Hawai'i, or even New York).