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.

Latino Voter Scenarios in 2008 Primaries

From our Monday morning PDF newsletter:

Latinos Still Waiting For A Vote

For now, Hispanic voters remain sidelined in the earliest caucuses and primaries.

Last week’s results in Iowa were not significantly impacted by the tiny number of Latino voters. The same will be true of this week’s primary in New Hampshire and next week’s primaries in Michigan and South Carolina. Latino votes won’t matter much there, either.

That will begin to change for Latino Democrats on January 19th in Nevada and peaks on February 5th’s 23-state super duper contests, with the possibility of a last hurrah in Texas on March 4th. For Hispanic Republicans, primary season pretty much begins and ends on January 29th in Florida.

Read more …

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.”

Read more …

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.

Obuckabee Wins. Now What?

Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, the Democratic and Republican candidates strongly preferred by Latinos nationwide, had less than a strong showing in Iowa, a state with a tiny Hispanic population. From here the race goes to New Hampshire, yet another state with a miniscule number of Latino voters. It is not until Nevada, on the Democratic side, that the Hispanic vote might potentially become significant. For the Republicans, Florida will be the first major test of Hispanic support.

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.

 

Latino Voters in Iowa

Like it or not, the Iowa caucuses matter. And this time around, Iowa has been the setting of a great deal of Hispanic voter outreach especially given the tiny number of potential voters. It is not the first such effort (first was Bush in 2000 and then Kerry in 2004) but it is the first time so many candidates (Clinton, Obama, Richardson) in the same party have duked it out for Latino support.

Below is a sampling of our Iowa coverage:

Eyes Turn To Latinos In Iowa

Dems Work To Woo Iowa’s Hispanic Voters

Interview With Villaraigosa in Iowa

Interview With The Mayor of Columbus Junction, Iowa

The Fidel Follies – Op Ed

The following is an excerpt from an op ed written by Manny González for this past Monday’s newsletter:

The Fidel Follies

By Manny González

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But when it comes to Republicans and Miami, it’s more a case of flaunting your escapades. Republican presidential candidates parade through the Magic City whispering sweet nothings to Cuban exiles and sternly repeating Fidel Castro is a naughty man. There’s no need for handlers to shape the message – just tell them what they want to hear.

No one exemplifies this craven Republican attitude better than Mike Huckabee, who went from holding a rational position against the Cuban embargo to passionately embracing it. What makes his political pandering so crass is that the circumstances which led him to take his previous stance have not changed one bit. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee argued his state’s agricultural industry would benefit tremendously by selling its products to Cuba.

Read more …

Latino Absentee Votes in California

The Ballot’s In The Mail

California officially holds its presidential primary on Feb. 5, but many say it really starts on Jan. 7. That’s the date when absentee ballots are sent out to millions of Golden State’s electors who have chosen to vote by mail, rather than at the polls.

But far fewer Latino voters than their white counterparts will receive ballots in their mail box. According to a recent Field Poll, 75 percent of the vote-by-mail crowd is white, only 13 percent are Latino.

“There’s a significant gap between Latinos and non-Latinos on that front,” says Evan Bacalao, spokesman for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund.

Read more …

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.