Campaigns woo Hispanics for crucial votes

With just two days remaining before the national election, Democratic and Republican campaign workers were increasingly saying, “Se habla Espanol” during the campaign as they hunted for votes in the metropolitan area.

“It is true that [candidates] realize that the Spanish vote is a must, and it is getting bigger and bigger,” said Federico G. Morales, chairman for the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Virginia.

More than 329,000 Hispanics live in Virginia, about 5 percent of the state’s population, according to the 2000 census.

Though exact statistics are hard to come by, one Hispanic research group, the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, estimates that one in seven to one in 11 Hispanics votes.

The Census Bureau said in March 2003 that Hispanics are now the nation’s largest minority group, ahead of blacks. Hispanics make up 13.3 percent of the population in the Northeast.

For the first time, the Fairfax County Republican Committee has teamed up with the Hispanic Assembly to focus on the community. In Maryland, Democrats are using many of the same strategies to inspire patriotism among Hispanics.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats in the District returned calls from The Washington Times.

“Latino interest in this election is at an all-time high,” said Adam Ortiz, Maryland field director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.

The Kerry campaign in Maryland has about 50 Spanish-speaking volunteers spread out among Baltimore and Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Mr. Ortiz said many of the volunteers have tried to reach Hispanic voters by staffing outreach tables at grocery stores and shopping centers.

“Like most people, Hispanics believe this is a very important election.” he said.

Ginny Peters, chairwoman for the Fairfax Democratic Committee, said party members there also have reached out to Hispanic voters. For example, sample ballots were written in Spanish, and multilingual volunteers participated in voter-registration programs to help potential Hispanic voters.

Mrs. Peters said Hispanic voters also believe that voting for Mr. Kerry is a step toward repealing the Patriot Act, by which they feel threatened.

“They will do everything possible to make their lives better,” she said. “They would be hard-pressed not to vote.”

Hispanics traditionally have voted Democratic. However, pollster Stan Greenberg estimated that Republicans received 39 percent of the Hispanic vote across the nation in 2002, a record level for the party in a midterm election.

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