- Originally published in The Hotline September 27, 2004
Copyright 2004 The National Journal Group, Inc.
HISPANIC OUTREACH
Adam Segal, dir. of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins Univ., is out with an exhaustive study of the efforts
being made to reach out to Hispanic voters. From his summary:
"Miami, a home to the bikini, is host to the year's" 1st WH debate and
one of the nation's "most unexpected battles for the Hispanic vote.
Despite impressive new efforts and financial records broken, the
reality is that the campaigns have tailored their Hispanic
communications efforts into what can best be described as 'Bikini
Politics' -- a series of strategies that cover only the essential parts
of the body politic. These advertising and communications efforts focus
almost exlusively on a handful of battleground states and reach only a
segment of the Hispanic electorate in those states." In '00, Dems made
"the tactical mistake and focused insufficient resources on the Miami
Hispanic community." This year, "a new battle is underway for Miami
that could position" the Dems better than before. The Kerry camp is out
with a new
"hard-hitting" Spanish-language radio ad, 'Cuba,'" that hits Bush
on
his admin's "restrictive Cuba travel policy." Also of note, the New Dem
Network, has spent more on Spanish-language TV ads than all GOP orgs.
this year and any previous Dem org. in a WH campaign. According to
their own numbers, NDN has spent more than what BC'04 and the RNC spect
"combined" in '00. The group claims to have spent $3.2M on paid media,
including more than $300K in Miami alone. Also of note,
"Spanish-speaking voters" in the purple states are "far more likely to
actuall see or hear a Hispanic-specific message from the candidates,
parties or interest groups this year than those Hispanics who speak
only English." English-langauge Hispanic
communications "remains a less developed effort than Spanish-language
communications efforts" (release, 9/27). The DNC I.E. dept. is up with
a new Spanish-language TV ad criticizing Bush's handling of Iraq. The
ad is running on Spanish-language TV stations in CO, FL, NV and NM; the
party is spending $185K to air the ads in all four states (Denver Post,
9/25).
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