The Bush campaign has refused to speak at the NAACP’s convention, but sent out Lynne V. Cheney yesterday to reach out to Hispanics, a minority group that could be key to President Bush’s re-election.
The vice president’s wife, long active in politics, delivered the keynote address at the National Hispanic Leadership Summit, saying she was “proud to campaign” for Mr. Bush.
“[Mr. Bush] has a clear vision for the future of the nation,” Mrs. Cheney told an audience of more than 300 Hispanic business and political leaders in Washington. “Abroad, he will use America’s great power to serve great purposes: to protect our homeland by turning back the forces of terror, and spread hope and freedom throughout the world.
“Here at home, this administration will continue building prosperity that reaches every corner of the land so that every child who grows up in the United States will have a chance to learn, to succeed and to rise in the world,” she said.
Mrs. Cheney, an author and historian, made only passing references to Hispanic-Americans in the beginning of her speech.
“The story of Hispanic contributions to our country is an uplifting one, and I have been proud these past few years to have a small part in helping children learn about it,” she said.
Mr. Bush declined an invitation to speak at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Philadelphia this week, citing personally disparaging comments the organization’s leaders made toward him.
The president also passed on an opportunity last month to address the National Council of La Raza, another nonprofit group that leans heavily liberal and Democratic in its politics.
Nonetheless, Mr. Bush has a strong record of attracting the Hispanic vote, winning 35 percent from the strong Democratic bloc in his 2000 presidential race against Al Gore.
A Gallup poll released June 30 showed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry leading Mr. Bush among Hispanics 57 percent to 38 percent.
Both candidates this week have rolled out Spanish-language political ads. Mr. Kerry bought $1 million worth of television spots Monday airing in swing states such as Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Florida.
“We introduce you to a man of faith,” begins the Kerry ad, airing on Spanish-language stations. “A man of family. A man of honor. A man for our community.”
Bush-Cheney ’04 pollster Matthew Dowd said the campaign will have spent $1 million on Spanish ads before the conclusion of the Republican convention at the end of August.
The Bush ads, airing only on radio, criticize Mr. Kerry for missing votes in the Senate, including one to fund troops in Iraq, and for voting against a parental-notification law for teens seeking abortions. The Spanish ads are nearly identical to the campaign’s English-language ads.
“When you find out about Kerry’s extreme voting record, it makes you wish he never showed up to vote,” says a narrator in the Bush ad.
The Bush radio spot is running in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico.
In his 1998 re-election as governor of Texas, Mr. Bush won 49 percent of the Hispanic vote, a record for the Republican Party in that state, and was the first Republican to win the heavily Hispanic and Democratic counties of El Paso, Cameron and Hidalgo.
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