PROVIDENCE -- Sequined girls twirled batons. Little League ballplayers marched in their uniforms. And politicians waved to the crowds standing on the curb.

Except for the beat of the music, you could say that yesterday's parade celebrating the Dominican Republic was your standard all-American affair.

Parade observers said the festival normally attracts its share of campaigners, but this year's drew the most politicians yet.

Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, who's running for governor, wore a straw hat with a Dominican Republic patch on it. The Democrat said he's walked the Dominican parade ever since he ran for lieutenant governor in 1998.

"That really opened my eyes. I saw thousands of young families," he said. "This is a group that is really on the move in Rhode Island."

A troupe of girls danced to Spanish hip-hop and led the way for secretary of state candidate A. Ralph Mollis' contingent, while Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch lined a flatbed truck with Latino beauty pageant winners, including Miss RI Latina.

Sen. Juan M. Pichardo, D-Providence, the nation's first native of the Dominican Republic to be elected to a state legislature, said it's a sign of the growing voting strength of the city's Dominican community.

"We are a small percentage [of the vote] but it makes an impact and it needs to be counted," Pichardo said.

He noted that 10 years ago, voter turnout in the South Providence neighborhoods was 20 percent of the eligible voters, but today it is closer to 40 percent.

The campaigns noticed.

At the start of yesterday's parade along Broad Street, politicians mingled in the staging area.

Among the group were candidates for Congress, including Republican Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, Democratic Senate aspirant Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy; Fogarty; lieutenant governor hopeful Sen. Elizabeth H. Roberts, D-Cranston; secretary of state candidates Mollis and Guillaume de Ramel; Lynch, state treasurer candidate Frank T. Caprio and more than a dozen candidates for the General Assembly and local offices.

The Narragansett Indians' chief sachem, Matthew Thomas, led a contingent from the tribe promoting the casino proposal likely to face the voters in November. "Vote 'Si' on en la pregunta #1" the tribe's banner read. It was accompanied by Spanish-language signs proclaiming "Jobs," "Tax cuts" and "Benefits."

Rhode Island has about 109,000 Hispanic residents, according to a 2004 Census report, 24,000 of them from the Dominican Republic.

Despite its small numbers, Providence's Dominican community has shown its strength in the political arena. Only 26 Dominicans nationwide have been elected to political office, including city council and higher posts. Three of them are in Rhode Island: Pichardo, state Rep. Grace Diaz -- the first female Dominican elected to state office -- and Providence City Councilman Miguel C. Luna.

In comparison, New York has 5 Dominicans in office and about 700,000 Dominican residents.

"That says a lot about Rhode Island and that says a lot about Dominican civic participation in Rhode Island," said Cid Wilson, the president of the Dominican American National Roundtable, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

Wilson was a grand marshal of yesterday's parade. He considers Rhode Island a role model for Dominican political engagement, and it's only going to grow, he said.

About one-third of the nation's Dominican population is not yet old enough to vote, and most of those young people are American citizens.

ccrowley@projo.com / (401) 277-7376