Posted on 11/21/2002 4:11:23 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
WASHINGTON -- Candidates for Congress and governor aired more than 16,000 Spanish-language television spots during the 2002 campaign, and politicians seeking federal, statewide or legislative office spent at least $16 million on such advertisements, a researcher reported today. Media consultants interviewed for the report expect higher spending in 2004, when there is a presidential election and as many as 1 million Hispanic voters are expected to be registered to vote, said Adam Segal, director of Johns Hopkins University's Hispanic Voter Project.
"What I think this is all about is about empowerment," said Frank Guerra, president of a San Antonio marketing firm that is often used by Republican candidates. "The more that they (parties) come after our vote, the more the power of the Hispanic is going to grow in America." Many of the ads this year stood apart because they overwhelmingly were more positive and were made to appeal to cultural pride, consultants said. For instance, an ad for Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry showed children playing soccer, a sport popular among Hispanics. Perry's rival, Democrat Tony Sanchez, was featured in his own ad with Hispanic friends and using Spanish colloquialisms. In Florida, an ad for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush opened with a series of flags from various Latin American countries and ended with the Florida flag and the motto, "Florida, our home." "Latino communities can set the trend and change the rules or change the dynamics on how political advertising is done," said James Learned, president of Great Falls, Va.-based Elevacion, which created Sanchez's ad and some ads for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
Hispanics vote overwhelmingly Democratic, but Republican campaigns are trying to chip away at that base. The number of Hispanics in the United States rose by 58 percent during the past decade to 35.3 million, Census Bureau statistics show. Their turnout, however, does not yet match their numbers. Consultants said they had to consider the nuances of the Hispanic population in planning ad strategy. Guerra, president of Guerra Deberry Coody, said the challenge for Bush's ads was to reinforce the Cuban vote, while also speaking to other non-Cuban Latino groups. In Texas, Learned said, ad designers had to consider that the largely Mexican-American population can be second-, third-generation American or more. To reach them, advertisements had to cross over some messages from ads targeted to non-Hispanics. The $16 million in spending found by Segal's study amounts to about 2 percent of the more than $1 billion estimated paid out for political ads in 2002. The report found that at least 20 gubernatorial candidates, six Senate candidates, more than a dozen House candidates and dozens more local candidates used Spanish language advertising.
Those numbers compare with more than 24 candidates running Spanish-language ads in 2001 and more than 26 in 2000, including the presidential candidates. Among this year's candidates were five who spent more than $1 million each on Spanish language ads. They were: Tom Golisano, New York independent gubernatorial candidate who spent at least $2.4 million; Sanchez, who spent at least $1.8 million; Gov. Bush and the Florida Republican Party, which spent at least $1.8 million; California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who spent $1.7 million; Carl McCall, a Democratic New York gubernatorial candidate who spent at least $1 million.
Bush and Davis won; the others lost.
No. Es margarina
Es Parkay. ( jah-jah-jah ! )
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