Iowa jumpstarts historic election for Latinos as Rubio, Cruz continue gaining traction

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DES MOINES, Iowa - Never before in U.S. history have the top contenders for president in either party included a Hispanic candidate - much less two who have a real shot at the Oval Office.

Whatever transpires from here on in the 2016 race for the U.S. presidency, this much is fact: Among the top contenders in polls around the nation are Latinos Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both senators and both Republicans.

They are bested in most polls of GOP voters only by billionaire Donald Trump, who occasionally has slipped behind Cruz, and is basically neck-and-neck with him in Iowa, which on Monday becomes the first state in the nation to cast votes for each party's nominee.

What is particularly significant is that two Latinos - one of whom grew up in a Latino enclave and nearly always brings up his Cuban immigrant parents and frequently speaks Spanish in public - have won their strongest support in some of the most rural, mainly white, most conservative parts of the country.