On Sunday night, Democrats made history at the University of Miami when, for the first time, our presidential candidates directly addressed the issues of the Hispanic community in Spanish.
Sitting in the arena, I was surrounded by hundreds of prominent Democrats from across the country and more than a thousand students. An almost euphoric excitement filled the room. The momentous event reached a record 4.6 million viewers via the Univision television network - more than any other debate or forum this year.
In conjunction with the forum, the New Democrat Network's renowned Hispanic Strategy Center led discussions over the weekend that demonstrated how pivotal Hispanics will be in 2008, especially in Florida. At your state Party, we're working to increase outreach efforts to this diverse community to help us elect more Democrats.
In 2006, we advertised in Spanish-language newspapers and radio stations throughout the state, and won the Hispanic vote statewide for the first time in three decades. This year, among other important efforts, we appointed Cuban-American State Rep. Luis Garcia as Vice Chair of the Party; ran an aggressive bilingual field effort to help elect Puerto Rican State Rep. Darren Soto in a special election; and hired a Spanish-speaking press secretary in Miami. We also plan to unveil a fully developed, Spanish-language version of our website in time for Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15).
After years of careful, Karl Rove-type tactics to build a base among Hispanics, who twice helped elect President Bush, the GOP slipped into a downward spiral in 2005. They bungled the immigration issue and ended up with not only a major policy failure but also a political disaster. Their hateful rhetoric, intended to gin up support among the right-wing, backfired big time.
I want to give you an example of how bad a miscalculation the GOP made by scapegoating Hispanic Americans to court xenophobes. In 2006, the national Republican Party ran a series of television ads in several U.S. Senate contests that compared Mexican immigrants to Islamic terrorists. You can view one of them here: http://www.youtube.com/...
I don't have to remind you which party took control of the U.S. Senate following those elections!
Still, the Republicans don't get it. From Fred Thompson calling Cubans "terrorists" to Mitt Romney ending a speech with Fidel Castro's infamous sign-off to Tom Tancredo referring to Miami as a "Third World country," Republican presidential candidates are showing their true colors.
We have an opportunity to say to Hispanic voters: ¡Sé parte del equipo! (Join the team!) To win, Florida Democrats have to build a strong and diverse campaign organization. We have to continue reaching out to the Hispanic community through 2007 and into 2008 to lay the groundwork for victory.