Giuliani’s Spanish-Language TV Ad Campaign

What do Rudy Giuliani and a Miami grocery store chain have in common? Each is counting on America TeVe and other Spanish-language stations to deliver the goods: Cuban-Americans.

Tuesday marks the start of Rudy Giuliani’s second week of TV advertising in the crucial South Florida Spanish-language television market. Crucial, because whichever Republican presidential candidate draws the most Cuban-Americans to the polls for Florida’s January 29 primary is better positioned to win.

Cuban-Americans living in South Florida vote overwhelmingly Republican in presidential contests and turn out in high numbers. Political strategists say that in past GOP primaries for U.S. senate or governor’s races, when turnout is low elsewhere in the state, Cuban-Americans have comprised from 15 to 20 percent of voters statewide.

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Giuliani’s Spanish-language TV Ad

Here’s the Giuliani campaign ad en español that begins airing today on at least three Spanish-language television stations in Miami (WLTV-Univision, WSCV-Telemundo, WJAN-AmericaTeVe). It is called Liderazgo (Leadership) and opens with a shot of the late president Ronald Reagan shaking Giuliani’s hand. The ad says Giuliani reduced crime, lowered taxes, created jobs and shrunk the bureaucracy in New York City. The ad closes with the assertion that he did it in New York and he can do it in Washington.

Read about how Giuliani is Gunning For Cuban-American Voters.

Guiliani Pursues Cuban-American Voters

From our Monday morning PDF newsletter:

Giuliani Gunning For Cuban-American Votes

As the Huckabus rolled with increasing momentum from Iowa to New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani’s campaign acted as if the next major contest was in Florida. That state’s primary isn’t until January 29th. But Giuliani ads are slated to start airing this week in South Florida on independent America TeVe (Channel 41) and on Telemundo owned-and-operated station WSCV (Channel 51)., according to station executives. A third Spanish-language station in Miami, MegaTV, reported it was still in negotiations with the campaign.

Two other Republican candidates are considering joining the barrage. “We have been receiving inquiries from the Romney and the Ron Paul groups, and most likely you’ll be seeing them around very soon,” says Francisco Framil, national sales manager at AmericaTeVe, which claims the largest share of Cuban-American viewers in South Florida. Framil says he has contacted the Mike Huckabee campaign “but we haven’t received a formal request for information.” The latest tracking polls, released last month, showed Giuliani’s lead in Florida winnowing to only four to seven percentage points over Huckabee, with Romney and McCain behind them.

“I think Giuliani is trying to make a statement that he is going to stay in the competition even if he loses the first four primaries,” Framil observed, referring to the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. “Obviously if he loses Florida, I think he’s out of the race.”

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Giuliani Ad to Air on Spanish-language TV

Rudy Giuliani’s campaign has purchased airtime to begin running next week on at least one Spanish-language television station in Miami.

Update: The ad will begin airing January 8 on Telemundo O&O, WSCV channel 51 in Miami.

Giuliani in Hialeah

The discussion surrounding Rudy Giuliani’s decision to skip the Iowa caucus and head for Florida has largely overlooked exactly where Giuliani will be in Florida – namely, Hialeah.

La Ciudad del Progreso (the City of Progress), as it styles itself, is a bastion of Cuban-American machine-style politics and the home of colorful politicians and off-color campaign slogans. Milander Auditorium, where Giuliani will speak later today, is named after longtime mayor and political boss Henry Milander who was re-elected less than a year after a grand larceny conviction for using city funds to speculate in local real estate.

According to the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, 68 percent of Hialeah’s residents were born abroad. The 2000 Census, the latest year for which the figure is available, found that 90.3 percent of city residents were Hispanic with Cuban Americans representing 62.1 percent of the city’s population.

Last week, Giuliani went to the Bay of Pigs Memorial in Little Havana. Yesterday, the campaign launched a Spanish-language radio ad called “Liderazgo”, which opens with the line “President Reagan trusted him to combat crime.” And today, Hialeah.

Clearly, the Giuliani campaign is working to attract Cuban-American Republicans in South Florida, which represent between eight and ten percent of all likely Florida Republican primary goers.

But, Hialeah is not the Republican bastion you might expect given the high concentration of Cuban American voters. Raul Martínez, a Democrat, was elected Mayor several times and Hillary Clinton has raised more money in Hialeah than Giuliani.

Still, if you are looking for Cuban American votes, then Hialeah is a great place to visit. Florida is crucial to Giuliani and winning the Cuban American vote is an important piece of winning in the Sunshine State.

UPDATE: Giuliani is now planning to air a Spanish-language television ad starting next week in South Florida.

 

Rudy Giuliani in Hialeah

Rudy Giuliani’s decision to spend Thursday, the day of the Iowa caucuses, in Florida has drawn plenty of analysis. Less discussed, though, is where exactly the former mayor will be in Florida and why. Namely, he will be in the heavily Cuban-American city of Hialeah attending an event at Milander Auditorium. And as explained here, Cuban-Americans make up between eight and ten percent of the likely Florida Republican primary vote.

ImpreMedia Poll Puts Clinton, Giuliani Ahead Among Latino Voters

Senator Hillary Clinton enjoys a commanding lead among Latino registered voters in five key states – California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas – according to a poll conducted by ImpreMedia the owner of major Spanish-language dailies such as La Opinion and El Diario/La Prensa. The poll found 42 percent of those surveyed supported Clinton for President. Senator Barack Obama was a distant second with 5.1 percent and Governor Bill Richardson was third with 2.7 percent.

Rudy Giuliani was the leading Republican candidate with 6.2 percent of Latino support followed by Mike Huckabee with 1.1 percent. All the other Republican candidates had less than one percent support.

Clinton, Giuliani Lead Among Hispanic Voters – Pew Survey

Senator Hillary Clinton enjoys a very strong lead of 59 percent among Hispanic registered voters aligned with the Democratic Party, according to a recent Pew Hispanic Center survey. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is supported by 35% of Latino registered voters who lean Republican.

Clinton is followed by Senator Barack Obama with 15 percent then Governor Bill Richardson with 8 percent and John Edwards with 4 percent.

Giuliani is followed by Fred Thompson with 13 percent then Senator John McCain with 10 percent and Mitt Romney with 4 percent.

Romney Campaign Derides Giuliani’s Strategy

Yesterday, La Política’s Daily Update included an item about how Giuliani’s campaign manager and strategist are placing almost all of their emphasis on Florida and the February 5th primaries. At the same time, they go to some lengths to stress they are not quite ignoring the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary.

After seeing the Daily Update, one of Romney’s staffers sent me a note from which I’ve excerpted below:

Mayor Giuliani continues to hang his hat on national polls that show him garnering around 30 percent support, yet fully 100 percent of the electorate knows who he is. That is a very big gulf to have between the number of voters that know him and the number that actually support him.

National poll samples are largely a reflection of name awareness at this point in the campaign. The polls taken of voters in the early primary states reflect the opinions of voters who are the most engaged and most informed about the candidates. For Mayor Giuliani to have 100 percent of Iowa voters know who he is, yet only around 11 percent of those voters support him…that’s a major problem for his candidacy.

The latest polls out in New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina show that Governor Romney is perfectly positioned to be competitive in the early election contests.

The fact is both Giuliani and Romney are pursuing a strategy that plays to their respective strengths. Giuliani enjoys strong name recognition as well as strong support in Florida, New York and New Jersey. Romney has invested heavily in resources, time and effort in both Iowa and New Hampshire and it has paid off. The arguments of both campaigns are a mix of convenience and conviction.You work with the hand you’re dealt.

Giuliani To Attend Univision Forum

According to campaign staff, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has agreed to participate in Univision’s Spanish-language Republican Presidential Candidate Forum to be held on December 9. This means the entire top tier of the Republican candidates will be in attendance.