Can GOP Hopefuls Win Over Hispanics?
This story was written by CBSNews.com's Brian Montopoli and Alfonso Serrano.
You won't find Spanish on the Web site of most of the GOP presidential candidates. But click on a link on the upper right corner of Mitt Romney's site and you're greeted by a fresh faced young man speaking the language in an almost-perfect accent.
"Hola," he says. "Soy Craig Romney."
Craig, one of Romney's five sons, spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Chile, and his appearance in the half-minute video, in which he introduces his father in Spanish, is telling: Among the GOP candidates, Romney has been perhaps the most aggressive in courting the Spanish-language community.
The former Massachusetts governor, unlike his rivals, has a Spanish-language page on his Web site. He's run Spanish-language ads in Florida, including one featuring Craig. His campaign has a Latin America Policy Advisory Group, and Romney was the only Republican to attend the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's annual meeting. His press shop has pushed the ways in which Romney is "putting conservative principles to work for the Hispanic community."
"I don't think we're trying anything specifically different with Hispanic voters than with the voters in Iowa or anything else," Craig Romney, who has been doing Spanish-language interviews in Orlando and Miami, tells CBSNews.com. "We're just presenting my dad for who he is."
But Mitt Romney faces an uphill battle with Hispanic voters, and not just because a Miami Herald poll last month put rival Rudy Giuliani at 70 percent support among Hispanic Republicans in Florida. According to a new Pew Hispanic Center poll, Republicans have seen the gains they made among Hispanic voters under President Bush evaporate; Hispanics now favor Democrats over Republicans 57 percent to 23 percent.
That gap can be explained, in part, by the increasing prominence of illegal immigration as a campaign issue. Romney and Giuliani spent the opening portion of last month's CNN/YouTube debate sparring over who has taken the hardest line on the issue, and rival Mike Huckabee has taken criticism for backing a plan to offer college scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. Huckabee and Fred Thompson have taken strong anti-illegal immigration positions, and Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have made their opposition to illegal immigration central to their campaigns. Tancredo has aired two sensationalistic ads in Iowa, one linking illegal immigration to terrorism and the other focused on crime and South American gang activity in America. ()
When asked in a November CBS News/New York Times poll which issues the candidates should be discussing, likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa put illegal immigration at the top of the list, ahead of the war in Iraq and the economy. 44 percent said illegal immigrants should lose their jobs and leave the country.
Reverend Luis Cortes, a prominent Latino evangelical who supported Mr. Bush in 2004, recently invoked Nazi Germany in discussing Republican rhetoric over illegal immigration, saying a solution to the immigration problem needs to be found that does not "vilify an entire race."
At 46 million, Latinos make up 15 percent of the U.S. population and about 9 percent of the eligible electorate, and the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that they will make up 6.5 percent of voters in the upcoming presidential election. It's a relatively small group, but one that could make a big difference in a general election. Latinos represent a sizeable slice of the electorate in four of the six states Mr. Bush carried in 2004 by less than five percentage points: New Mexico (37%), Florida (14%), Nevada (12%), and Colorado (12%).
In the key early primary states of Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, however, Hispanic voters make up just three percent of the electorate, according to Hispanic Business Magazine.
"It's important to point out the difference between enforcing the laws on immigration and respecting Hispanic culture," says Craig Romney. "There's a line that gets crossed sometimes when it comes to disrespecting the Hispanic culture and it's not something my dad is willing to do."
Raul Romero, National Chairman of Viva Rudy, Giuliani's Hispanic outreach program, stressed that Giuliani, despite the illegal immigration rhetoric, has a "very, very strong" record on Hispanic issues.
"There are very many issues that pertain to the Hispanic community that are not just the illegal immigration issue," he tells CBSNews.com.
That's particularly true in Florida, a crucial early primary state in which Hispanic voters are disproportionately Cuban and Republican. Giuliani's dominance in the state can be explained in part by his image, according to Luis Clemens, editor of CandidatoUSA, who closely follows the candidates' outreach efforts to the Hispanic community.
"He's the kind of politician - temperamental, strong character, strong mayor - that has traditionally appealed to Cuban voters in Miami," says Clemens.
Romney, who does not speak Spanish, made a gaffe in the state in March when he uttered what he characterized as an inspiring phrase - "Patria o muerte, venceremos" - which is associated with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
According to Clemens, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has urged restraint from his colleagues in their illegal immigration rhetoric, "is seen as someone, by virtue of his support of immigration reform, who is particularly receptive to the Hispanic populations' support of immigration and is sensitive to the notion of not using strident language."
But McCain has not been particularly active in reaching out to the Hispanic community, though he recently launched a Hispanic Advisory Council. Thompson, who has a Hispanic media consultant, has done more outreach, and polls a distant second to Giuliani nationally among Hispanic voters, followed by McCain and Romney.
On Sunday, most of the GOP candidates gathered at the University of Miami for a Univision-sponsored debate broadcast in Spanish. (Tancredo boycotted, suggesting in a Miami Herald op-ed that the Spanish-language format "offends the spirit of democracy.") Many stressed that their values were also the values of the Hispanic community.
"I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country," McCain told the audience.
By Brian Montopoli and Alfonso Serrano
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. You won't find Spanish on the Web site of most of the GOP presidential candidates. But click on a link on the upper right corner of Mitt Romney's site and you're greeted by a fresh faced young man speaking the language in an almost-perfect accent.
"Hola," he says. "Soy Craig Romney."
Craig, one of Romney's five sons, spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Chile, and his appearance in the half-minute video, in which he introduces his father in Spanish, is telling: Among the GOP candidates, Romney has been perhaps the most aggressive in courting the Spanish-language community.
The former Massachusetts governor, unlike his rivals, has a Spanish-language page on his Web site. He's run Spanish-language ads in Florida, including one featuring Craig. His campaign has a Latin America Policy Advisory Group, and Romney was the only Republican to attend the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's annual meeting. His press shop has pushed the ways in which Romney is "putting conservative principles to work for the Hispanic community."
"I don't think we're trying anything specifically different with Hispanic voters than with the voters in Iowa or anything else," Craig Romney, who has been doing Spanish-language interviews in Orlando and Miami, tells CBSNews.com. "We're just presenting my dad for who he is."
But Mitt Romney faces an uphill battle with Hispanic voters, and not just because a Miami Herald poll last month put rival Rudy Giuliani at 70 percent support among Hispanic Republicans in Florida. According to a new Pew Hispanic Center poll, Republicans have seen the gains they made among Hispanic voters under President Bush evaporate; Hispanics now favor Democrats over Republicans 57 percent to 23 percent.
That gap can be explained, in part, by the increasing prominence of illegal immigration as a campaign issue. Romney and Giuliani spent the opening portion of last month's CNN/YouTube debate sparring over who has taken the hardest line on the issue, and rival Mike Huckabee has taken criticism for backing a plan to offer college scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. Huckabee and Fred Thompson have taken strong anti-illegal immigration positions, and Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have made their opposition to illegal immigration central to their campaigns. Tancredo has aired two sensationalistic ads in Iowa, one linking illegal immigration to terrorism and the other focused on crime and South American gang activity in America. ()
When asked in a November CBS News/New York Times poll which issues the candidates should be discussing, likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa put illegal immigration at the top of the list, ahead of the war in Iraq and the economy. 44 percent said illegal immigrants should lose their jobs and leave the country.
Reverend Luis Cortes, a prominent Latino evangelical who supported Mr. Bush in 2004, recently invoked Nazi Germany in discussing Republican rhetoric over illegal immigration, saying a solution to the immigration problem needs to be found that does not "vilify an entire race."
At 46 million, Latinos make up 15 percent of the U.S. population and about 9 percent of the eligible electorate, and the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that they will make up 6.5 percent of voters in the upcoming presidential election. It's a relatively small group, but one that could make a big difference in a general election. Latinos represent a sizeable slice of the electorate in four of the six states Mr. Bush carried in 2004 by less than five percentage points: New Mexico (37%), Florida (14%), Nevada (12%), and Colorado (12%).
In the key early primary states of Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, however, Hispanic voters make up just three percent of the electorate, according to Hispanic Business Magazine.
"It's important to point out the difference between enforcing the laws on immigration and respecting Hispanic culture," says Craig Romney. "There's a line that gets crossed sometimes when it comes to disrespecting the Hispanic culture and it's not something my dad is willing to do."
Raul Romero, National Chairman of Viva Rudy, Giuliani's Hispanic outreach program, stressed that Giuliani, despite the illegal immigration rhetoric, has a "very, very strong" record on Hispanic issues.
"There are very many issues that pertain to the Hispanic community that are not just the illegal immigration issue," he tells CBSNews.com.
That's particularly true in Florida, a crucial early primary state in which Hispanic voters are disproportionately Cuban and Republican. Giuliani's dominance in the state can be explained in part by his image, according to Luis Clemens, editor of CandidatoUSA, who closely follows the candidates' outreach efforts to the Hispanic community.
"He's the kind of politician - temperamental, strong character, strong mayor - that has traditionally appealed to Cuban voters in Miami," says Clemens.
Romney, who does not speak Spanish, made a gaffe in the state in March when he uttered what he characterized as an inspiring phrase - "Patria o muerte, venceremos" - which is associated with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
According to Clemens, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has urged restraint from his colleagues in their illegal immigration rhetoric, "is seen as someone, by virtue of his support of immigration reform, who is particularly receptive to the Hispanic populations' support of immigration and is sensitive to the notion of not using strident language."
But McCain has not been particularly active in reaching out to the Hispanic community, though he recently launched a Hispanic Advisory Council. Thompson, who has a Hispanic media consultant, has done more outreach, and polls a distant second to Giuliani nationally among Hispanic voters, followed by McCain and Romney.
On Sunday, most of the GOP candidates gathered at the University of Miami for a Univision-sponsored debate broadcast in Spanish. (Tancredo boycotted, suggesting in a Miami Herald op-ed that the Spanish-language format "offends the spirit of democracy.") Many stressed that their values were also the values of the Hispanic community.
"I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country," McCain told the audience.
By Brian Montopoli and Alfonso Serrano
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Posted by SgtRDS at 05:40 PM : Dec 10, 2007
Randi, you really need to get out then more because I have met & spoken with many legal Hispanic immigrants that are absolutely livid about illegal immigrants. Since you & I live about 20 miles apart, I find it impossible to believe that you have never met a legal Hispanic immigrant that doesn;t feel as you do in this debate. Considering where you live, perhaps all the Hispanics you meet are illegal.
Posted by Hwy71So
If you''re talking about the ragheads. I doubt very much if they ever served. If they did, it was probably kp or latrine.
11. He''''s a creationist nut.
Posted by SgtRDS
Maybe, but he doesn''t mind letting the Planet of the Apes Dogmatists spew their Darwinism. Although I think he was scoff at anyone saying that is a science.
The Democrats speak of their sympathy for illegals...but what about some sympathy for the plight of tens of millions of Mexicans living under the economic tyranny of the Mexican Oligarchs? The pro-illegals have nothing to say about it!
These "united sympathizers" for the illegals serve the Mexican government and the Oligarchy in that as long as the US is here as a relief valve for Mexico, there will never be any constructive change in Mexico. These Democrats provide de facto support for the oligarchies of the two nations: the US oligarchy gets the cheap labour and a new minority to politically play against the whites and blacks and the Mexican oligarchy looses its people who want more for their families and would put electoral and revolutionary pressure on the Mexican Regime...but, at least the empty heads who support the open borders can feel good about themselves...just as the empty-headed ''Progressives'' did who gave us the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax and a big, bloated government.
The FIRST thing the dems do when a bill comes to their desk is look and see who the author is. If it is a rep, they read no further, cast their "nay" and go look for something negative to say about the GOP. All they''re doing is hurting this country.
Illegal immigration just to get a job and send the money home is not acceptable; no room for leniency. Illegal immigration to escape a bad situation, to become a productive member of the receiving country and contributing member of that society does have room for acceptance. But, ONLY if said individual/family seeks the proper channels of "naturalization". No, the illegals I have a problem with are those who choose to fly under radar and treat me as if I OWE them something when in fact they are basically stealing from our society.
11. He''s a creationist nut.
1. He will Eliminate the IRS:
This means you will receive 100% of your paycheck.
2. He will drastically reduce Gas prices:
Switch to alternative fuels, changing supply/demand.
3. He will reduce global warming.
Switch to alternative fuels, no carbon dioxides.
4. He will reduce threat of terrorism.
New fuels cause middle east gov. crack down on them.
5. He will reduce rising Health care costs.
New programs that prevent diseases, not just fix them.
6. He will lead up not just hard right or hard left.
Excellent communicator, will bring parties together.
7. He will lead with principles rather than money.
He cares everybody not just those on Wall Street.
8. He will give Hope to America and enthusiasm.
He plays bass guitar in a band, dynamic personality.
9. He will carry out his goals, not talk about them.
Lost 110 pounds, kept it off, ran 4 Marathons-26.2m
10. He knows the American people is the real boss.
As Governor, his picture frame only shows citizens.
Vote for Mike Huckabee, otherwise you will not be able to enjoy these benefits
Since the other candidates don''''t have anything to say on what they can do for America, they take the easy road and resort to taking cheap shots at Mike. Don%u2019t fall into their trap any longer with negative attacks, let''''s show the critics and the naysayers that Americans have pride and we are ready to elect an honest, humble, trustworthy man for US President.