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President Obama told a group of Hispanic journalists today that his re-election campaign could win over Latino voters just by showing them clips from Republican debates.

"I don't think it requires us to go negative in the sense of us running a bunch of ads that are false, or character assassinations," Obama said, as reported by Univision."It will be based on facts."

President Obama says he is confident in his ability to win over Latino voters before next year's elections, thanks to some added help from his Republican opponents.

During a roundtable with Hispanic media in the White House's Roosevelt Room, Obama outlined his strategy for winning over a Latino electorate that remains supportive of him, but less enthusiastically so than in 2008. The president said he'll contrast his record with those of the Republican candidates on hot-button issues ranging from immigration, to the economy and healthcare.

Many political observers believe that drawing a sharp contrast with Republicans will require Obama to go negative, but the president said he won't have to use too harsh a tone to accomplish that.

"I don't think it requires us to go negative in the sense of us running a bunch of ads that are false, or character assassinations," Obama said. "It will be based on facts … We may just run clips of the Republican debates verbatim. We won't even comment on them, we'll just run those in a loop on Univision and Telemundo, and people can make up their own minds."

That's one of the strongest rebukes thus far from Obama against Republicans when it comes to their desire to chip away at his base of Latino support. And it underscores the president's eagerness to go toe-to-toe with his GOP opponents although the beginning of the general election campaign is still months away.

Obama and Democrats have long said Republican rhetoric against illegal immigration will sink their chances of winning over Latinos. During recent debates, GOP candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have angrily sparred over the issue. And Herman Cain suggested during a speech that an electrified fence should be built between the U.S. and Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants.

On the contrary, Obama repeatedly said during the 45-minute conversation that he supports comprehensive immigration reform -- a top issue for Latino voters. He also plugged his stalled jobs plan and touted his administration's efforts to reduce the cost of student loans; both of which he says would benefit U.S. Latinos.