With hopes of winning over the nation’s 44 million Latinos, Democrats running for president squared off in the heart of Florida’s Cuban-American community in what is likely to be their only debate in Florida until January’s primary elections.
Non-Spanish-speaking Floridians would have struggled to follow the debate, which was translated and broadcast in Spanish. No English telecast was made although Univision did offer closed captioning.
Richardson, one of two candidates who speaks fluent Spanish, objected to the debate rules that required all candidates to answer in English. The rule was designed to make sure that no candidate had an advantage in appealing to the Spanish-speaking audience.
“I’m disappointed today that 44 million Latinos in this country [will]… not hear one of their own speak Spanish,” Richardson said. “In other words, Univision is promoting English-only in this debate.”
Chris Dodd, who served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, also speaks Spanish fluently. He called for more engagement with Latin America, including a lifting of trade embargo against Cuba.
As anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas posed questions in Spanish, the candidates wore earpieces and heard simultaneous translations into English. The candidates’ responses were simultaneously translated into Spanish for broadcast, and English-speaking viewers could watch using the closed caption service on their televisions.
Since Ramos and Salinas support a path toward legalization for the nation’s estimated 12 million immigrants, both framed their questions with the basic assumption that immigrants, including those in the country illegally, face discrimination and have been unfairly demonized – a view not universally shared in English-language media.
Democratic participation in the Spanish-language debate is the clearest sign yet of the growing influence of Hispanic voters. The candidates are reaching out to Hispanics with an intensity that speaks to the importance of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority group in the campaign.
In 2004, President Bush won about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote nationally, the most ever for a GOP presidential candidate. His Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, won 53 percent, down from the 62 percent former Vice President Al Gore garnered in 2000.
Right now, most Republicans running for president are working hard to court conservatives, whose support they will need to win the party nomination. Chances are the Republican presidential nominee will go after the Latino vote after he secures his conservative base.
Significantly, the Republican Univision forum was cancelled after every candidate except John McCain cited scheduling conflicts.