WDET News
- Candidates Reach Out to Different Latino Communities
-
Aug 27, 2008General - Link to Audio
AMBI OF FAMILY TALKING LAUGHING.
It's a hot rainy day in the Bronx. The Morales family is sitting around
their dining room table laughing and talking as Bachata music flows through
the apartment. Photographs of the family adorn the walls of their modest yet
comfortable home. Down the long narrow hallway on the right is Jasmin
Morales room. She and her cousin Luis Manuel Antonio are inside talking
about politics – Luis is 18 and will be voting for the first time in a
presidential election.
Jasmin quickly bangs on the keyboard and brings up Barak Obama's page on
Facebook, a social networking site. Her cousin Luis, smiles when his page
comes up.
RIGHT THERE, ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM… GROUPS… NEW YORK LATINOS FOR OBAMA.
YUP, THERE IT IS.
One of their favorite links is an ad with famous Latino singers and actors
showing support for Senator Obama. To reach young Latino voters, the Obama
campaign created a page on the social networking site MiGente – the Latino
equivalent of FaceBook. The site boasts thousands of friends, photos of
Obama, videos, blogs, information about the candidate and links to speeches
Obama has given at the National Council of La Raza and League of United
Latin American Citizens. End song / add room ambi here
Nationwide, 18 million Latinos are eligible to vote, 11 million are expected
to go to the polls this November--3 million of those will be young Latino
voters.
Luis Antonio says he's attracted to candidates who use social networking
sites.
LL CANDIDATES IN GENERAL, FOR ALMOST ANY ELECTION, IF
THEY WANT TO CONNECT TO THE YOUNGER CROWD BECAUSE WERE ALREADY THERE AND IT
ALSO SHOWS THAT THIS PERSON IS JUST LIKE US, HE'S A HUMAN BEING. HE GOES ON
THESE WEB SITES WHETHER HE'S YOUNG OR NOT, HE STILL CAN TALK TO PEOPLE AND
GET INTO COMMUNICATION WITH ANYBODY.
Luis Antonio is among millions of Latino voters who are being targeted like
never before on the web, in radio, television and print. Campaigns are
hiring strategists, media consultants and recruiting Latinos for the ground
war. The outreach is aggressive.
Spanish Media Coordinator for the Obama Campaign Vince Casillas, is aware
that he is focusing on a community that has become politically astute.
TEN YEARS AGO CANDIDATES FELT LIKE IF THEY COULD GO INTO A
LATINO COMMUNITY AND SAY A FEW WORDS AND EAT SOME GOOD TACOS AND MAYBE HAVE
SOME GOOD MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND THAT WOULD BE THE EXTENT OF THEIR
OUTREACH. OBVIOUSLY WE KNOW NOW THAT THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S GOING TO TAKE, AND
PART OF IT IS BECAUSE THE LATINO COMMUNITY HAS BECOME MORE SOPHISTICATED.
THEY ARE VERY IN TUNE WITH ISSUES NOW, THEIR FOLLOWING POLITICS LIKE NEVER
BEFORE.
From the 2004 presidential election to the 2008 primary, Latino voter
participation increased by 60%. And for the first time in a U.S.
presidential campaign, Democratic candidates' held a debate on the Spanish
Language Network, Univision. 4.6 million Latinos tuned in--recognition that
the Hispanic community is listening to what candidates have to say.
Meanwhile the McCain campaign is reaching out to other segments of the
Latino community such as older voters, and Latino military families in
television ads like this one.
(McCain TV ad)
I WANT THAT THE NEXT TIME YOUR DOWN IN WASHINGTON DC, GO TO THE WAR MEMORIAL
AND LOOK AT HE NAMES ENGRAVED IN BLACK GRANITE, YOU'LL FIND A WHOLE LOT OF
HISPANIC NAMES. WHEN YOU GO TO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN TODAY, YOU'RE GOING TO
SEE A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE OF HISPANIC BACKGROUND. (fade under)
This ad is being played in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. Vietnam and
Iraq veteran Sal Alvarado says he appreciates the fact that McCain is paying
tribute Latino members of the US military.
IT'S NOT ALWAYS' THAT YOU HEAR OUR HIGH OFFICIALS PRAISING OUR CONTRIBUTION
TO THE MILITARY. 00:05:07 IF HE'S GOING TO GIVE US PRAISE ABOUT WHAT WE'VE
DONE IN THE MILITARY, HE WOULD CERTAINLY BE WILLING TO GIVE US PRAISE IN
EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF AMERICAN LIFE AND THE CONTRIBUTIONS WE HAVE MADE.
Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez says the Republican Party is staying
focused on older Latinos who have a track-record of voting.
THIS COUNTRY IS CHANGING AND YOUNG LATINO VOTERS ARE VERY
EXCITED BUT HISTORICALLY WE DON'T KNOW IF THEY TURNOUT.
Determined to make inroads into the Democratic base in the 2000 presidential
election, George W Bush's political director, Karl Rove, crafted the message
of shared family and religious values aimed directly at Latinos. He designed
messages that were in Spanish, created a bilingual web site, and built
relationships with Spanish Media. His strategy was overwhelmingly
successful. Bush won an estimated 40 percent of the Latino vote.
In this year's election, Sanchez says candidates must specifically tailor
massages to the various niche groups within the Latino community.T'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THE CAMPAIGN THAT WORKED FOR
PRESIDENT BUSH IN 2000 AND 2004 TO APPEAL TO LATINO VOTERS IS NOT THE
CAMPAIGN THAT WILL WORK IN 2008.
Gilberto Martinez from Detroit has been in the United States since 1972. He
retired from Ford Motor Company last year and is an undecided voter in
Michigan, a critical swing state.
LA GENTE YA NO ESTA ATRASADA EN ESA QUESTION POLITICA
Gilberto Martinez thinks Latinos are no longer ignorant to political issues
and says the use of sophisticated marketing techniques have yet to convinced
him who to vote for…
CON BONITAS PALABRAS NO… LA GENTE NO SE VA AYA POR LAS PALABRAS.
From now until November, the candidates will be carefully choosing las
palabras -- their words -- to sway undecided voters like Martinez.
I'm Martina Guzman WDET news.