Parties are eager to tap Hispanic voting power

Kirsten Searer

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

"Viva Bush!" signs now hang at most rallies for President Bush, even if there are few Hispanics in attendance.

Democrats and Republicans alike realize the potential power of the Hispanic vote in projected presidential battleground states like Nevada.

But far fewer Hispanics -- and other minorities -- register to vote in Nevada compared with non-Hispanic whites.

An estimated 75,000 Hispanics in the state could vote but are not registered, said political consultant Andres Ramirez.

In the city of North Las Vegas, for example, roughly 37.6 percent of the population is Hispanic, but just 13.9 percent of registered voters have a Hispanic surname, according to the Clark County Elections Department.

Even nonpartisan organizations have begun to target Latinos in the state.

On Wednesday night, the City Clerk's office sponsored the first of four voter registration programs taught entirely in Spanish.

The two-hour events teach Spanish speakers to fill out voter-registration forms. Quick civics lessons are also provided, including names of the president and some of his cabinet members.

Alicia Herrera, a translation and election specialist for the city, called the event entirely "nonpartisan" and said she thinks many Hispanics are nervous about registering to vote in English, even if they know the language.

"Sometimes the language barrier intimidates them to be able to participate fully," she said.

Another group, Voices for Working Families, has 30 paid workers knocking on doors in minority neighborhoods, looking to register African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans, said Andres Ramirez, a political consultant working with the group.

They hope to register 35,000 people between now and the general election. Workers started knocking door-to-door in early May and have registered more than 400 people, Ramirez said.

Yet another group that Ramirez works with, the New Democrat Network, has been running Spanish ads on television and radio for weeks.

These ads, however, are decidedly partisan. One accuses Bush of breaking a promise to the Latino community when he said he would invest $18 billion dollars in the nation's poorest schools.

It cuts to a little girl who gazes into the camera and says in Spanish, "President Bush, why did you break your promise?"

New Democrat Network polls in Las Vegas show that attitudes toward the Bush administration among undecided Hispanic voters have gone down 30 percent since the ads started to run, Ramirez said.

The Bush administration has just launched its own ads in Spanish, which mostly target Arizona, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. Some talk about the promise of a good education. Others attack Kerry, saying he wants to raise taxes.

Just 1 percent of money spent on media campaigns went to Spanish ads in 2002, but Ramirez predicted the number will be far higher this year. In the past, campaigns have targeted minority groups at the tail end of elections, he said.

"Most of these communities have been treated as novelty communities, not essential to the process," he said. "Certainly in this cycle you've seen a dramatic change where our communities have been discussed and included from campaigns from the beginning."

Volunteers for the state Democratic party have been knocking on doors since September and running phone banks every night.

They have registered between 5,000 and 6,000 people, said Ruben Kihuen, a party employee who works with minority constituencies. The goal is to register as many people as possible before the November election, he said.

"We just want to make sure that those people know that the Democratic Party is representing them," Kihuen said.

People in minority communities often feel that their vote won't matter in a race, Kihuen said. Democrats not only are registering them, but have plans to get them to the polls, as well.

"You go out there and register 100,000 (people)," he said. "We follow up, call them up, go to their door again, and send them mailers saying, 'if you're saying that jobs are important to you, this is what the Democrats are saying.'

"We have to tell them that the President we have right now hasn't done much not only for Hispanics but for a lot of the minority community," he said.

The chairwoman of the state Republican Party, Earlene Forsythe, said she's not worried about the voter registration drives targeted at Hispanics.

Not only is her party recruiting volunteers to register voters, she said she thinks more Hispanics could be drawn to the Republican ticket this year.

"I think that Hispanics actually tend to be more Republican, they just don't know it yet because they don't know our issues," she said. "When they find out, they want to come to our side."

Hispanics admire the Republican Party's emphasis on protecting family values, funding education while setting up accountability and providing prescription drug assistance to seniors, Forsythe said.

She agreed with the Democratic Party on one thing, though: All this effort will mean nothing if Hispanics aren't convinced that their vote will make a difference.

"We can register all we want, but we've got to make sure they get to the polls," she said.00