Clinton’s, Obama’s Spanish ads seem almost an afterthought

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.

A day after the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton launched TV ads in Spanish, observers of the Hispanic electorate wondered whether the effort wasn’t a case of too little, too late.

Nevada’s Democratic caucus was moved to Jan. 19 in part because the party wanted to give minority voters a voice. Hispanics make up 25 percent of the state’s population, including an estimated 80,000 active registered voters in Clark County alone.

Obama’s and Clinton’s TV ads in Spanish began Tuesday, with Obama spending $38,000 on Univision, which airs the area’s most widely seen Spanish-language news program, and Clinton spending nearly $20,000. The third leading Democratic contender, former Sen. John Edwards, is not running any ads in Spanish.

In contrast, both campaigns began advertising on the area’s four network affiliates in English a month ago, and together had spent nearly $600,000 as of last week.

Why didn’t the campaigns put more resources into reaching potential Hispanic voters in their primary language?

Lisa Garcia Bedolla, associate professor of political science at UC Irvine, said the scenario in Nevada with regard to the ads “is consistent with what has always been the case nationwide.”

Campaigns, she said, typically decide, “If we have a little extra money and time, we’ll put together a Spanish ad.”

This shows, she added, that “neither side has been very good at figuring out how to do outreach to Hispanics.”

Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley, said the move was “odd on the face of it” and wondered whether it “might reflect concerns over backlash ... if they had begun advertising in Spanish earlier.”

Both campaigns noted that they had bought ads in Spanish on radio earlier a reflection of that medium’s popularity among many Hispanics and said they were concentrating more on reaching Hispanic voters in door-to-door efforts.

Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, director of Hispanic communications for the Clinton campaign, said “personal contact is very important in the Latino community.” So dozens of bilingual volunteers have spent up to 45 minutes at a time explaining Clinton’s platform to the valley’s Hispanic voters.

TV ads, she said, “are a complement to that strategy.”

Similarly, Shannon Gilson, communications director for Obama’s Nevada campaign, said her staff’s “emphasis here is on ... the grass-roots organizing approach” in the Hispanic community.

The ads launched Tuesday are, for the most part, indistinguishable from their counterparts in English, featuring the candidates’ positions on issues such as education, health care and jobs.

But each candidate puts in a bid for the attention and support of the valley’s Hispanics.

“No more anti-Hispanic demagoguery!” Clinton’s ad says.

Obama reminds Hispanic voters of their commonality, referring to his Kenyan father’s immigrant background.

“Remember the hopes that brought you or your parents to this country?” the ad asks.

“Don’t let anyone or anything take those hopes away.”