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| COURTING LATINOS | |
 July 24, 2000 
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Betty Ann Bowser reports on attempts by both Republicans and Democrats to win Hispanic voters.
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BETTY ANN BOWSER: The campaign rhetoric this year is sounding a little different, a little, well, foreign. VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: En la familia Americana, educacion tiene que ser lo mas importante. (Cheers and applause) Si. Claro que si. |
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| The fastest growing ethnic group | |||||||||||
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VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: Gracias. Muchismas gracias. (Cheers and applause) BETTY ANN BOWSER: That's why the two presidential candidates are paying so much attention to those voters. In a close election, which this one could be, Latinos can make the road to the White House a smoother ride for whoever gets their support. Harry Pachon heads the Tomas Rivera Policy Research Institute at Claremont College in California.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Traditionally there has been a split in the Hispanic community, with most Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and central Americans voting democratic, and most Cuban Americans going Republican, but the way Latinos vote often depends more on where they live now rather than where they came from. HARRY PACHON: The Latino voter in Florida is quite different than the Latino voter in Texas versus California, and even amongst the same general sub-population, like Mexican Americans, there's big differences amongst Mexican Americans in Texas versus California, for example-- Californians and New York Latinos, much more liberal than Texas and Florida Latinos. BETTY ANN BOWSER: But no matter where they live, Latinos now are being considered fair game, with both candidates pitching their messages to Latino communities outside their traditional turf. WOMAN: This area over here is for Spanish press. |
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| Candidates making pitches to Latinos | |||||||||||
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GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't take a poll or a focus group to determine who I ought to go see. I have made a reputation in my state of Texas about reaching out to the Hispanic population. (Chanting in Spanish) BETTY ANN BOWSER: In Florida, Vice President Gore split ranks with Democrats over the plight of Elian Gonzalez, and supported the position of Republican-leaning Cuban Americans. VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: I would have handled it by putting this into a family court, following the normal due process that should be followed in such situations. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Michael Alvarez, associate professor at the California Institute of Technology, who has studied Latino voting trends, says the candidates realize that Latinos tend to vote by issues rather than by party.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: If the Latino vote straddles party lines, pollster Ed Goeas says republicans shouldn't miss the chance to grab that vote. ED GOEAS: We're looking at number right now of white voters in this country moving increasingly Republican in their vote, and you look at the African American community becoming increasingly homogenous and monolithic in their support of Democratic candidates. For the Republicans particularly, though, you can't afford to, to allow the Hispanics to become as monolithic in their vote. BETTY ANN BOWSER: That fact has not been lost on Governor Bush.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Unlike most Republican candidates in the past, bush is making a strong pitch for Hispanics, and part of his strategy is family ties. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I have another member of my family here, el hijo
de mi BETTY ANN BOWSER: He calls his nephew, the son of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his Mexican-born wife, his secret weapon. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: He's a smart, he's a smart man. He's a family, he's blood, I love him dearly, and that's George P. Bush. Stand up, Pete. (Applause) BETTY ANN BOWSER: Bush has good reason to think he can make inroads into the Hispanic community. When he ran for reelection as governor of Texas two years ago, he got 47 percent of the Hispanic vote. Political scientist Alvarez says the new attention could bring big rewards for the community and for the parties. |
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| How influential is the Latino vote? | |||||||||||
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BETTY ANN BOWSER: Hoping to fine-tune that machine, Latino-elected officials from across the country gathered last month in Denver. Democratic congressman from New Jersey, Robert Menendez: REP. ROBERT MENENDEZ: To all of the candidates who are out there, whether they are running for president or whether they are running for the members of the House of Representatives or for the Senate, beware: Success, all roads, lead to the Latino community in this election. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Federico Pena, a former cabinet member for the Clinton administration, says the Latino vote could be decisive in many districts.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Consultants offered them hints on how to get their message across to the media. CONSULTANT: If there were three things you want me to remember about this interview when I walk away, what three things are they about bilingual education? BETTY ANN BOWSER: And Gore showed up, trying to bring them into his camp.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Republican California assemblyman Rod Pacheco loved the attention. ROD PACHECO: Our impact on presidential politics is thus obvious. When I tell my non-Hispanic friends in California of these numbers, the most frequently asked question is what will this mean for the rest of the country? I reassure them by telling them that we will treat them as well as they have treated us. (Laughter) Sometimes that fails to reassure them. (Laughter) GEORGE W. BUSH: ..quiero hablar en espanol, pero no que...
HARRY PACHON: One of the interesting things for the future: Was the anti- immigration rhetoric of the 1990's a watershed period for the Latino community in certain states? Much like the civil rights act of 1964 was a watershed period for black voters, that it pushed them into the Democratic Party. BETTY ANN BOWSER: If Governor Bush could woo those voters back, it would have a significant impact on the campaign. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I've got a lot of challenges in the state of California. One, I've got to change the perception that our party is anti-immigrant. It's an image that some have ascribed to the Republican Party. I'm setting a different tone and a different attitude toward the newly arrived. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Bienvenidos a este pais. You're welcome in America, that America is meant for everybody.
VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: I helped to fight against prop. 187 and prop 209, porque somos una nacion de inmigrantes, y con orgullo. (Cheers and applause) BETTY ANN BOWSER: But there's a new face in the presidential race, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader. According to Republican pollster Goeas, Nader makes the Vice President's need for Hispanics even greater.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: But Democratic Congressman Menendez says Hispanics in California will prove to be loyal to Democrats in the fall.
SPOKESMAN: I'd like to ask you a question. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Sure. SPOKESMAN: I understand that you speak Spanish. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: No, tengo que practicar. SPOKESMAN: Practicar muchas... BETTY ANN BOWSER: Whether it's California, Florida, or Illinois... VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: Si se puede ganamos. Gracias a todos! BETTY ANN BOWSER: ...Voters are likely to hear more Spanish as candidates court votes on the campaign trail. |
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GOV.
GEORGE W. BUSH: You had a chance to meet my wife, la persona que amo
con 
BETTY
ANN BOWSER: Both presidential candidates are dashing around the country
speaking Spanish. It's a sign of how seriously both political parties
take the new muscle of Spanish-speaking Americans. Latinos are the fastest-growing
group of ethnic voters in the country, and their numbers are greatest
in key states like Florida, New York, Texas, and California. That's
important. The nine states that have the largest Hispanic population
account for 75 percent of the electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
HARRY
PACHON, Tomas Rivera Policy Institute: I think it's numbers. I mean,
when we look at them, in California all it takes is about 4 percent
of Latinos voting one particular way to make a one-point difference
in the election. 
BETTY
ANN BOWSER: In California, where Latinos lean Democratic, Governor Bush
held the first statewide bilingual town hall meeting. 
MICHAEL
ALVAREZ: The Latino community is very strongly catholic, and a lot of
Latinos do follow the dictates of the Church when it comes to their
beliefs about abortion. So on that issue a lot of Latinos fall into
kind of a traditional Republican territory, but on lots of other issues,
issues primarily dealing with the role of government in society-- should
the government play a stronger role in education, should the government
play a stronger role in guaranteeing jobs and economic security for
people-- On those kind of issues, Latinos fall very strongly into the
Democratic territory because they're very much in favor of an activist
government. So they, they straddle the traditional party boundaries.
GOV.
GEORGE W. BUSH: ...Dinero, mas de su dinero para conservar... 
MICHAEL
ALVAREZ: You know, a great comparison for the Latinos these days are
the Irish immigrants a hundred, 150 years ago, where they were coming
into, again, very large urban areas-- New York, primarily-- and developed
very quickly into a very significant voting bloc on the east coast,
and candidates developed very specific appeals to those groups, those
new immigrant groups, back at the turn of the century, helped mobilize
them into politics, and played a very important role in developing some
of the most important political machines that we've seen in American
politics. 
FEDERICO
PENA: There are about 73 congressional districts where Latinos are about
15 percent of the population. So in any close congressional district
you could have the Latino community in that district decide who's going
to be the next member of Congress. So not only will the Latinos' vote,
in my opinion, help determine who will be the next president, the Latino
vote will help determine the composition of the House of Representatives
and who will control the House of Representatives.
VICE
PRESIDENT AL GORE: And one of the obstacles is the misperception promoted
by some that we've now reached the promised land, we now have a prejudice-free
society. Hola! (Laughter) Donde? So I think that we have to have a national
law against hate crimes. I think that we have to have affirmative action.
I think we have to have civil rights laws, enforcement... 
BETTY
ANN BOWSER: But will all the excitement pay off? Is there any evidence
that the Latino vote could actually turn a presidential election? California
may be the place to see how influential the vote can be. Latino voters
there have a record of making a difference. In 1998, they turned out
in record numbers to help take the governor's mansion back from the
Republicans. They were angry with Republican anti-immigration initiatives
like Proposition 187. 
BETTY
ANN BOWSER: The Vice President often reminds Latinos that he and the
Democratic Party always opposed the anti-immigration measures. 
ED
GOEAS: Ralph Nader in most recent polls is running five or six percent
nationally, but he's running very strong west of the Mississippi and
particularly in California, and his vote that he's getting in California
is directly out of the hide of Al Gore, and so you combine a Ralph Nader
taking votes from the left from Al Gore, and a George W. Bush, who is
running much stronger than normal than republicans with the Hispanic
vote, and all of a sudden California is in play, and it has to be very
disconcerting for the Gore campaign because if they're having to go
in and shore up California, that means they're not moving to other parts
of the country that they need to be that are much more swing. 
REP.
ROBERT MENENDEZ: Well, I think the vice president's last eight years
of proven actions on behalf of our community-- standing up for them
when they were being attacked by negative propositions across the country,
advocating for them in terms of greater representation in the federal
government-- those are proven actions, not just the words of a candidate.