ELECTION 2008:

The parallel presidential campaign in Spanish

Highly coveted voting bloc has an information filter different from others’

Friday, Oct. 31, 2008 | 2 a.m.

2008 Election Guide

Jorge Ramos, news anchor for Univision, the nation’s top Spanish-language television network, asked Republican presidential candidate John McCain the same question twice — but the Arizona senator answered each time that he didn’t understand.

Ramos referred to building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea McCain backed in a 2006 congressional vote.

For days after the Sept. 18 interview, McCain’s wavering response echoed in Spanish-language newspapers across the nation, cited as an example of why the candidate couldn’t be trusted on immigration, a touchstone for Hispanics.

But the interviewer’s questions, along with others on English-only laws and relations with Cuba, also demonstrated an undeniable truth.

During these long months of presidential campaigning, the millions of Hispanic voters who read, watch and listen to media in Spanish have been gathering impressions that often differ in content and tone from those being communicated to the rest of the country in English.

Ads and coverage have focused on family, jobs, health care, education, relations with Latin America and, of course, immigration.

Another difference: There are no nationally syndicated conservative radio talk shows, and no local ones either. The Spanish spots on the dial include no Rush Limbaugh.

These differences are interesting to note in Nevada because the Democratic Party scheduled its state’s first early caucus here for January in part to reach Hispanic voters. And the role of Spanish-language media for those voters is unquestionable: Seventy-nine percent of Clark County’s Hispanic voters watch Spanish-language TV, according to a survey by Democracia USA, a Florida research and advocacy group.

Experts say advisers from the campaigns and anchors such as Ramos aren’t just translating from English. They’re tailoring what they say to their audiences.

And the number of ads and the amount of airtime the candidates offer to Spanish-language television, not to mention print and radio, have reached levels that were unimaginable as recently as the 2000 Bush-Gore race. The Barack Obama campaign, for example, has spent $20 million on reaching Hispanic voters, more than both candidates combined in the 2004 presidential race.

And Ramos told The Miami Herald recently he has done more one-on-one interviews with the candidates than any other anchor, in Spanish or English — two with Obama and three with McCain. Four years ago, he got only a few minutes with Democratic candidate John Kerry.

Ramos also landed the only interview on Spanish-language television with McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin. In the Oct. 21 interview, he asked Palin whether her daughter Bristol’s pregnancy served to underscore the need for educating teenagers about birth control. (She said yes.) He also asked whether Palin talks to her son, Track, who is serving in Iraq, and what they talk about.

Hernando Amaya, associate editor of El Tiempo, one of the valley’s two Spanish-language weeklies, called the interview an example of how subjects such as the family are given more play in Hispanic media.

The same is true of education and health care, he said, adding that Hispanic media will drill into those issues to get at what interests their audiences. For example, though the economy ranks tops in most Hispanic voter surveys, Amaya said the issue is most often framed in terms of jobs, not bigger-picture topics such as the stock market on Wall Street.

Similarly, when it comes to education, Hispanic media are likely to ask candidates about school vouchers or bilingual classes, for example.

Immigration is the proverbial elephant in the room. In a recent Public Radio International show on Spanish-language ads, Pilar Marrero, reporter for La Opinion, the 82-year-old Los Angeles daily, noted that neither campaign has addressed the issue much in English. Both, however, seek to convince Hispanic voters that they would reform immigration laws soon after being elected.

An interesting problem has occurred for McCain’s campaign, Marrero noted. In English, the candidate says borders must be tightened first and that he would no longer vote for his own 2006 bill that included legalizing millions of illegal immigrants. But in Spanish he has voiced support for the idea of offering a pathway to citizenship.

When it comes to radio, no one is bigger than Eddie Sotelo, nicknamed “El Piolin,” or Tweety Bird. Credited with whipping up many of the first marches backing immigration reform in 2006, he has also asked McCain and Obama about subprime mortgages and immigration, pushing each to commit to revisiting the issue that drew hundreds of thousands to the streets from coast to coast.

Another unusual development in the world of Spanish-language media is the planned Saturday appearances of both candidates on Univision’s “Sabado Gigante,” which has aired every Saturday evening since 1962, giving it the Guinness record for the world’s longest-running show. It features songs, corny skits and short skirts. And host Don Francisco has more than 100 million viewers in more than 40 countries, so this is a major, last-minute platform for both campaigns. It is the third time the show has hosted presidential candidates.

What will Obama and McCain talk about?

Amaya predicts the discussion will center, once again, on family, jobs, health care, education and immigration — “the subjects our people care about.”

The 2008 race has not just brought Hispanics more ads and coverage than ever before, with their own content and tone. Obama recently became the first presidential candidate to record an entire television ad speaking Spanish. The ad, which remarks on the American dream of jobs, health care and education, has not escaped the attention of Hispanic observers across the nation.

Eddie Escobedo, owner of El Mundo, the valley’s oldest Spanish-language weekly, said he was impressed with Obama’s effort — and his accent.

“This means he understands he needs to reach us — and that he respects us,” Escobedo said.

Lisa Garcia Bedolla, associate professor of political and cultural studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said a presidential candidate speaking in Spanish has symbolic value for many Hispanic voters. “It’s like you’re speaking to them on their terms. It matters.”

Discussion: 13 comments so far…

By neiman1

10/31/08 at 4:34 a.m.

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The Spanish speakers should listen to Tito the builder. He knows first had what a leader promising to share the wealth does to a nation. He knows how the same rhetoric destroyed Cuba and stole freedom and he knows Chavez is doing the same to Venezula. Learn from history and listen to a man that has seen it. Tito the builder is on the campaign trail now for McCain every day as it's that important to him and his other immigrant builders.
By keo10

10/31/08 at 8:07 a.m.

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Obama is a Socialist just like Castro who was on TV all the time brainwashing the people. Don't be fooled by Obama. Today, Journalists from three major newspapers, The Washington Times, New York Post and Dallas Morning News have each having endorsed John McCain -- reportedly have been booted from the Barack Obama campaign plane for the final leg of the presidential campaign. http://www.drudgereport.com/
Vote for an American hero, John McCain who stands b y Latino's!
By johnevegas

10/31/08 at 8:18 a.m.

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"The Washington Times, New York Post and Dallas Morning News have each having endorsed John McCain..."

Aren't all those papers owned by Rupert Murdoch?
By PatriciaLV

10/31/08 at 9:32 a.m.

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Yes they are. And I'm hard-pressed to think of any actual "journalists" they employ.
By redferret

10/31/08 at 11:08 a.m.

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Yeah, and drudgereport is such an exemplary non-partisan newssource.
And for good laughs why don't we point out that in Latin America, at least the people there got healthcare. Not here.
Also what has Obama specifically done to be the next Castro or Chavez? What resources has he nationalized, what group has he locked up?
By PatriciaLV

10/31/08 at 12:35 p.m.

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Oh redferret; he hasn't actually done anything to make him a socialist. But this is what keo10 (and all the other 'bot incarnations) were told by their "news" outlets.

So it MUST be true.

/sarcasm off
By johnevegas

10/31/08 at 2:42 p.m.

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Patricia -"/sarcasm off"

Thanks! I've been looking for that command. Looks like Linux though. Will that work on the Windoze command line?
By laffgirl

11/1/08 at 12:31 p.m.

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below is an excerpt from http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/s...

I AM NOT THE ONE RUNNING FOR POTUS
UPDATED 10-29-08 @ 8:20 pm cdt

<snip>

Now none of these attacks on me are going to change the fact that Barack Obama, then an IL State Senator, did on November 6 & 7, 1999, purchased and sold cocaine, did smoke crack cocaine in the back of a limo and in a Gurnee, IL hotel room, and did engage in gay sex with me in the back of a Limo on 11-6 and again in a Gurnee, IL hotel room on 11-7-99.

None of these efforts to attack me are going to change the fact that Donald Young, the MURDERED former Choir Director of Trinity United Christian Church, did contact me from September 2007 thru December 2007 at the request of Barack Obama, did state he and Barack Obama was intimately and sexually involved with each other.

None of these misrepresentations about me are going to change any of the FACTS about Barack Obama's actions and as a candidate for POTUS these actions by Barack Obama rightfully deserve to be reported to the American Voter.

I have never stated that Barack Obama himself pulled the trigger that killed Donald Young, but I have and continue to state that Barack Obama does know who killed Donald Young and the Young family have the right to have the killer of Donald Young brought to justice and Barack Obama held accountable for his knowledge of and protection of that killer.

Now Chicago Public Radio, MSNBC, Politico, ABC, CBS, FOX et al... report the whole story if you want to attack the messenger. Because I will say it again, I am not going away, and regardless of the results on November 4, 2008, the TRUTH about Barack Obama's actions will be told to the American Public. Joe the Plumber is not the first to have people illegally obtain personal information to attack him.

Barack Obama is a liar, has engaged in sexual relations with other men while married to Michelle (Michelle knows this to be true), did buy and sell illegal drugs while in the IL Senate and has done a masterful job at keeping the Media from reporting this information thus far.
By johnevegas

11/1/08 at 1:09 p.m.

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americangirl and laffgirl appear to be the same "person". Propaganda posts, like the one above, are in the form a drive-by smears. Just indiscriminate shots fired for the sake of shock value without an ounce of truth to any of them.

Whoever you are, enjoy hell. You've sold you soul to the Devil.
By johnevegas

11/1/08 at 3 p.m.

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Speaking of selling souls to the Devil...

Bill Cunningham - "Obama wants to gas the Jews"
http://mediamatters.org/items/2008103100...

I'm beginning to wonder what the limits are here. Are there any? Bill Cunningham is a Christian leader? What Christian would say such a horrific thing? Last week, this same "man" referred to Obama as the Anti-Christ. He literally called him "The Beast".

As I sit here, I can see Mr. Obama laughing out loud at Cunninghams statements, with a big and wide smile on his face. I find that inspiring folks. I hope to be able to emulate his attitude about politics someday soon. But at the moment, I find myself more disgusted by it than humored.

It is with great pleasure that I have voted for Obama and against hatred like this. My God is not hateful. Man is hateful. My God is only love. I call on my Christian friends to denounce this hate speech and to vote for the ticket of compassion and inclusion, Obama/Biden.
By redferret

11/1/08 at 3:27 p.m.

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Besides that's really pathetic to say Obama's having gay sex and smoking crack. Talk about jumping the shark. Some of you repuglican are pretty damn awefull.
By redferret

11/1/08 at 3:39 p.m.

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Ha,I looked up this Larry Sinclair. Turns out that he has a laundry list of confidence/deceit charges against him in about 4 states. He's still wanted in Colorado for felony theft. He's scum, and laffgirl you are scum too for forwarding his trash. This guy is beyond pathetic, he's just criminal trash trying to get national spotlight time. Why do you think major media haven't picked up on him? Could it be bias? NO
Could it be that he can't prove anything that he's saying? YES
Here some from Politico:
Sinclair's biography, though, may get in the way of that pitch: Public records and court filings reveal that he has a 27-year criminal record, with a specialty in crimes involving deceit. The record includes forgery charges in two states, one of which drew Sinclair a 16-year jail sentence. The Pueblo County, Colo., Sheriff's Office also has an outstanding warrant for Sinclair's arrest for forging an acquaintance's signature and stealing her tax refunds.

and more provocatively:
After the Florida episode, according to the records, he returned to Colorado, where he faced check fraud and credit card charges in 1986. Then, in 1987, he was convicted in Colorado on more serious forgery charges, and sentenced to 16 years in jail.

In prison, according to state records filed in federal court, Sinclair was disciplined 97 times for infractions including assault, threats, drug possession, intimidation, and verbal abuse, most recently in
1996.

"He has not institutionalized well," a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, Liz McDonough, told the Denver Post in 1996 after a month-long Sinclair hunger strike. She said he had served time in prisons in Buena Vista, Delta, Limon and Canon City before being transferred to the state's maximum security penitentiary in 1993.

Great guy, sounds like he says the truth a lot.
By johnevegas

11/1/08 at 3:53 p.m.

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And speaking of criminals, Vice President Dick Cheney said he will cast his ballot for the McCain-Palin ticket.

"This year, of course, I'm not on the ballot, so I am here ... not to vote for me, but I want to join daughter Liz, who is with me today, join us in casting ... our ballots for John McCain and Sarah Palin."

Now there's an endorsement we've ALL been on pins and needles for.

Ho ho! That funny! He said "WE ALL" but really nobody waiting for it! That make it funny! Ho ho...

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