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Este informe no está disponible en español. King FeaturesThe Rise of Hispanic Voters (Almost)by ROGER HERNANDEZNovember 17, 2000 The first thing history will say about this election is that it was one of the most controversial ever. The second thing history will say is that in 2000 the Hispanic vote finally emerged as a political force. From now on, every presidential campaign will pay attention to it. Bush and Gore were well aware of the crucial role Hispanics were going to play, and both made a hard play for their votes. They showcased Hispanics in their conventions. They courted local Hispanic officials. They spoke before Hispanic groups. They tried to speak in Spanish on the stump, Bush more successfully than Gore. They sent out relatives to campaign in Spanish -- half-Hispanic nephew George P. for George W., daughter Karenna for Al. They had Spanish-language websites. Their interest was evident, too, in their handling of the media. Both candidates spent millions of dollars advertising on Spanish-language television, radio and print. They gave several interviews to news anchors on Univision and Telemundo. They spoke live with listeners of the Spanish-language Radio Unica network. They showed up the week before the election on "Sábado Gigante," a hybrid of a talk show and a game show that is the most popular program on Spanish-language TV -- more or less, the equivalent on popping up on Leno or Letterman. Both campaigns had serious press operations for Spanish-language journalists. For Republicans, in particular, this was quite a change from 1996. Back then the Dole campaign's Spanish-language spokesperson was a very nice woman who was, well, a very nice woman. She had no access to the candidate and little access to anyone who was in the loop. Campaign honchos pretty much ignored her. This year a former Univision reporter named Sonia Colin was fully a part of the Bush press staff. She was well-informed, got back to journalists with questions quickly even when the campaign's response was a non-answer, and made sure that if you were on her e-mailing list you got two or three Spanish-language press releases every day. The rush to Spanish of 2000 was unprecedented in American presidential politics, and vote returns showed it was smart to pay this kind of attention. Some seven million Hispanic voters turned out this year -- seven percent of the electorate -- up from 4 percent in 1996. The number will continue to grow because of a high birth rate, immigration, and increasing naturalization. Nationally, Hispanics went 62-35 percent for Gore, compared to 72-21 for Clinton against Dole in 1996. Although the largely Puerto Rican vote in New York remains overwhelmingly Democratic (80-18 for Gore) and the Mexican American vote in California still remembers Pete Wilson (68-29 for Gore), the Cuban American vote remains solidly Republican and the Mexican American vote in Texas is moving that way too, with 43 percent voting for Bush compared to 16 percent who voted for Dole. What's more, Hispanic voters are one of the groups that made the decisive Florida vote as close as it is. Without the nearly 78 percent of Cubans that pollster Sergio Bendixen says voted for Bush, Gore would have won Florida comfortably. But had George W. reached the more than 80 percent that Reagan and Pop won when they ran, Florida would be his. No recount. Despite all the attention, however, one element is missing in the electoral rise of Hispanics. Donde está the beef? Sure, Hispanic voters are as interested as anyone else in Social Security, drugs for seniors, defense spending, education reform, Bush's smarts, Gore's character. But there are certain issues that directly affect Hispanic voters more than other groups. Puerto Ricans care about the Navy bombarding the island of Vieques and about the future political status of the island. Mexican Americans care about the relationship between the U.S. and the newly elected government of Mexican president Vicente Fox. Cubans care about U.S. foreign policy toward Castro. All Hispanics care about immigration and language laws. Yet not a single one of those issues had much significance this year. Blame the candidates for sidestepping them. Blame the press for not asking. This will change. With the number of Hispanic voters growing, it's hard to imagine these questions will not be on the national agenda four years from now. Roger Hernández is a nationally syndicated columnist and Writer-in-Residence at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He can be reached via email at rogereh@prodigy.net.
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