Mitt Romney Unleashes Spanish-Language Ad On Florida Voters

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is speaking Spanish in an appeal to Florida voters -- including those in Miami-Dade, where 72 percent of registered Republicans are Latino, and most are of Cuban descent.

The former Massachusetts governor unleashed 'Nosostros' on Sunshine State televisions and Youtube this week, featuring, as in 2008, his 26-year-old son Craig Romney narrating in Spanish. The ad is peppered with Spanish-language endorsements from Miami's other strong Big Three: Cuban-born Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and former Congressman-turned-lobbyist Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

"Los Estados Unidos representan libertad, oportunidad, donde todo es posible,” sings Craig Romney, who lived for a time in Chile. "Soy Craig Romney. Mi padre, Mitt Romney, cree en esos valores americanos porque los ha vivido y luchara para restaurar la grandeza de nuestra nacion."

In other words, "The United States represents liberty, opportunity, where anything is possible. I am Craig Romney. My father, Mitt Romney, believes in those American values because he has lived them, and will fight to restore the greatness of our nation."

(View 'Nosostros' above.)

In the ad, Lincoln Diaz-Balart tout's Romney's plan to create jobs, Ros-Lehtinen heralds his "vision to restore the country's national security", and Mario Diaz-Balart says Romney believes in "us." The clip features Miami heavily, from shots of the Magic City skyline to footage of Romney's November appearance at Conchita Foods, complete with a backdrop of pallets full of guava bites and coconut water. At the end, candidate Romney, whose father was born in Mexico but has never considered himself Mexican, acquits himself with a confident, "Soy Mitt Romney y apruebo este mensaje. Muchas gracias."

The Miami Herald reports that Romney's campaign skipped the Miami market in a nearly $1 million Florida media buy last week before running 'Nosostros' now, a sure sign that he is expressly targeting Cuban-American voters with the 31-second clip.

Will it help? While the GOP will say just about anything to secure the Latino vote, team Romney is so far situated nicely in Florida: Romney boasts a double-digit lead heading into the Florida Republican primary, and in typical swing state fashion voters appear evenly split on President Obama.

Comments

[Carbon Forteetoo]

09:50 AM on 01/23/2012

Mitt is an anchor baby!!

[Isela D]

02:30 AM on 01/21/2012

Whether his message is in English, Spanish, Chinese, it does NOT matter. The lies are all the same. Don't even try Romney.

[Bichion]

02:21 PM on 01/14/2012

why isn't Craig somewhere serving the country his daddy wants to be CIC of, instead of translating spanish for his daddy, who was borning on Mexican soil!!!!USARMY 82-92

[Mx7777]

10:25 PM on 01/12/2012

The worst day for Cubans living in Florida will be when it normalized relations with Cuba because they will be illegal immigrants overnight. (Like the rest of the Hispanics, they'll have to prove that they are legal residents.)

[jrterrier]

01:03 PM on 01/14/2012

how do you figure. most, if not all, cubans living in Florida are US citizens either because they were born here or became naturalized. castro first came to power in 1959, more than 50 years ago so most cubans have been in the USA more than one generation. Only a handful have recently come in small boats. Even the last great migration, the Mariel Boat lift happened in 1980, more than 30 years ago. The "Marielitos" are not citizens.

[Mistinguette Grandison]

10:10 PM on 01/12/2012

It's funny listening to Romney speak Spanish.

[luz2409]

09:43 PM on 01/12/2012

Cuban Republicans should be ashamed of themselves. While they get a free pass when it comes to immigration, (all they have to do is land on American soil and they're given citizenship), they support a candidate who has no heart for all the people suffering in Mexico and the rest of the world who are not as lucky when immigrating here illegally. Many of them are fleeing the drug war in Latin America but Cubans just don't get it I guess.

[jrterrier]

01:06 PM on 01/14/2012

you are talking old history. most cubans have been here nearly 50 years or were born here (castro came to power in 1959); or more that 30 years from the last great migration, the Mariel Boat Lift in the early 1980's. Only a handful continue to streat in by makeshift boats.

[mater]

07:03 AM on 01/12/2012

Speaking mandarin Chinese hasn't helped Huntsman and speaking Spanish isn't going to distract from all of Romney's deeds.

[mira chancleta]

11:15 PM on 01/11/2012

One Question...

From reading these "latino" voter posts, does anyone know if anybody from the NON-Hispanic American demographic MAJORITY is going to vote in Novermber?

And has the Black AMERICAN community of CITIZENS all moved to the North Pole to work on their tans?

[mtribe1]

10:30 PM on 01/11/2012

I'm guessing he took French in high school...

[jrterrier]

01:10 PM on 01/14/2012

Romney was a missionary in France in the late 1960s.

[charlesdickens]

11:52 PM on 01/21/2012

during the Vietnam War - convenient, n'est pas

[Summer77]

09:47 PM on 01/11/2012

Oh yes please do listen to the Vende Paritas! And you will get exactly what you deserve when you vote for these liars!

[bbertaud]

08:38 PM on 01/11/2012

And yet...many Latinos will vote Republican.....el mundo al revés

[Mistinguette Grandison]

10:14 PM on 01/12/2012

Habieron votadao. Lo siento.

[orborousv]

08:40 PM on 01/23/2012

More will vote democrat. Trust.

[CG-Miami]

05:40 PM on 01/11/2012

Mr. Romney: We already know that you are against hispanic immigrants, that your private record has been of cutting jobs for the benefit of investors and being against social services. Why do you think that hispanics don't know this and that your "message" in Spanish would win them over?

[Consequence]

05:43 PM on 01/11/2012

LOL
Do you not realize how silly the DailyKos talking points make you look?

[jrterrier]

01:11 PM on 01/14/2012

he's never said that he is against hispanic immigrants. why do you equate hispanic immigration with those who enter illegally.

most hispanic immigrants have entered the USA legally.

[Isela D]

02:44 AM on 01/21/2012

Most Latino immigrants know the pain and suffering of the ones who had to come here without documents "illegally". Most everyone knows someone, relative, friend or neighbor who suffers the daily attacks and exploitation for not being legal. So, most Latinos understand that immigration reform is a very important issue.

But, naturally, the strategy of any political system is to DIVIDE people by making them think that some are better than others among their own group (documented/undocumented), so that the entire group never unites and becomes strong.

[missyrocks]

04:30 PM on 01/11/2012

Typical- talk out of both sides of their mouths. Against Dream act and anti-immigrant but then try to court their vote.

[bbertaud]

08:40 PM on 01/11/2012

Mi ser Romney.....and I will screw you as soon as I get to the White House with more anti-inmigrant legislation, so please, voten por mi....Moochas Graceeas....

[mira chancleta]

11:11 PM on 01/11/2012

...if by "their vote" you mean Cubans, you should be aware that with few exceptions Cubans are overwhelimingly legal citizens or at the very least permanent residents.

...and they share virtually NOTHING with Mexicans, Mexican-Amerians or the Pro-illegal clowns but the "check mark" in the "hispanic" box of the census.

...beyond that, Cubans are adamantly pro-American sovereignty and very much AGAINST the lawlessness of our southern border.

...could have something to do with KNOWING first-hand what happens to a country when it is kidnpapped by the politics of "leaders" who care little about their citizens and more about their place in the history books, even if that place is a bookmark in the subtext of...

"Colossal, Failed Policies America Once Erroneously Allowed Before Its Name Was Forcibily Changed to Estados Unidos de Mexico del Norte"

[lpoursoi]

03:22 AM on 01/13/2012

Cubans are overwhelmingly legal citizens (or at the very least permanent residents) because of the special status they are granted as "exiles". All a migrating Cuban has to do is have his feet touch dry land ("wet foot/dry foot" policy). Migrating Cubans caught at sea are immediately deported, but for the most part once they reach dry land, the are not subjected to the same rules as every other migrant from Latin America.

And they don't share anything with Mexicans because of the overwhelming assistance they receive from the federal government. Many Cubans are granted government assistance, such as food stamps and health care among other benefits and special treatment simply because of their "political exile" status (even though the majority of them come here for the same reasons as the vast majority of migrants, for economic reasons), ironic given that many of them vote Republican.

Beyond that, many Cubans also cross into the United States via the Mexican border if they somehow enter Mexican territory first. Some find the option of entering Mexican territory first (illegally I might add) easier. Once inside Mexican territory, they make their way up north to the border and cross into the U.S. knowing that the only barrier is not being caught by Mexican authorities in Mexico, or prevented from entering the U.S. by American border patrols. But beyond that once they do reach the U.S., they are scott free unlike their fellow border crossers.

comemierdas

[Yankeebrown]

04:29 PM on 01/11/2012

thank god, it's just the cuban vote!

[Emma2011]

04:16 PM on 01/11/2012

Mitt Romney is so out of touch that he does not even understand how much harm he has inflicted upon his own candidacy by alienating Latinos and other immigrants­. He will get the Cuban vote, but to other Latinos his scorched earth policy on immigration has made him persona non grata and he will be defeated by Obama.