Bits & Pieces

On deadline today, so here are several bits and pieces of information scrambled together

USA Today looks at tonight’s Nevada debate with an eye to Latino voters:

“… Andres Ramirez, who leads Hispanic outreach for Nevada Democrats, said Hispanics make up only 10% of registered voters, yet were 13% of the electorate in 2006, when the state had a hotly contested gubernatorial race.

“There’s also the challenge of explaining what is a political caucus, a gathering of people who don’t cast ballots. As Ramirez put it, “There is no Spanish word for caucus.”

“Republicans, meanwhile, continue to stake a claim to the Latino vote even though leading contenders such as Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have been outspoken in their opposition to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants. In 2004, Bush won about 40% of Hispanic voters nationally. State GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden said Hispanics are attracted by the party’s message of low taxes and economic opportunity.”

A Republican forwarded me this story:

“Senator Hillary Clinton has come out firmly against giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, one day before a debate against her fellow Democrats, who have put her on the defensive on the issue.

“… ‘I support Governor Spitzer’s decision today to withdraw his proposal,’ she said in the statement. ‘As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration, including border security and fixing our broken system.’”

“Her statement may have been an attempt to take the issue off the table. But the issue is bound to persist.

“…House Republicans introduced a measure today to prohibit states from issuing valid driver’s licenses to those in the United States illegally. This is the third major bill so far this session that seeks to discourage states from issuing such licenses and identification to undocumented immigrants. Another would withhold a portion of federal highway funds from states that award a valid I.D. to illegal immigrants; a third expresses a sense of the House that states should not be issuing driver’s licenses to people who are here illegally.

“…Mrs. Clinton’s statement, and her vow to focus on border security and ‘fixing our broken system,’ is closer to Republican language than traditional Democratic language and suggests she is looking past the Democratic primaries to the general election.”

You can check out the Senator’s full statement on the Spitzer plan here.

Separately, Giuliani’s campaign is clearly ramping up its Hispanic efforts as I said to Lorenzo Morales of El Diario/La Prensa. Today, the campaign announced Raul Romero will serve as national chairman for Viva Rudy. Romero chaired the Hispanic task force during President Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign.

Immigration is proving to be the “third rail” for both Democrats and Republicans. Romney and Huckabee are now going at it:

“Campaigning Tuesday in Iowa, Romney criticized Huckabee, along with rival Rudy Giuliani, on the issue, contending that Huckabee fought for tuition breaks for children of illegal immigrants while governor of Arkansas. ‘Giving a better deal to the children of illegal aliens than we give to US citizens from surrounding states is simply not fair and not right,’ Romney told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

“Huckabee has explained that the bill in question provided merit scholarships to children of illegal immigrants, provided they were applying for citizenship, and has argued that barring those children would penalize them for their parents’ misdeeds.

“On Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” today, Huckabee was more pointed in his response to Romney: “I guess Mitt Romney would rather keep people out of college so they can keep working on his lawn, since he had illegals there.”

“That refers to a Globe report last December that the landscaping service working on Romney’s lawn in Belmont employed several illegal immigrants. Romney has said his family checked that the employer was legal, but didn’t know the immigration status of the workers. He has also said that the episode has not changed his tough views on illegal immigration.”

Lastly, take a peek here and here. The former is a look at Latino political communications in Fleishman-Hillard’s FH Hispania Plaza blog and the latter is a link to a podcast interview where former Wall Street Journal reporter Eleena de Lisser interviewed me about the various campaign’s Spanish-language communications.

This is probably it for today as I am writing up several articles for this upcoming Monday’s newsletter. Back to blogging tomorrow when I will post a Q&A with Luis Fortuño.