While the media is busy catering to the press releases on Gov. Bill Richardson's astonishment and surprise that the Clintons are angry with him (Breaking News: Top Politicians Share Angry Words Over Key Endorsement!!!!!) John McCain is sticking his red white and blue flag in the "Aztec Ruins" of New Mexico. I guess it was easy for most of the mainstream and not so mainstream media to miss the "movida" because McCain is making his claim on New Mexico in Spanish.
Last week America's media sweetheart, John McCain, released an ad for Spanish language TV in Gov. Bill Richardson's backyard. The ad is the same as the English language ad currently airing only the narrative is in Spanish. McCain's secret internal polling must be whispering to his advisors what the public polling has been screaming to anyone that will pull their head out of the Democratic sand: McCain has a real play among Latino voters.
While everyone may debate who the Republican Party really wanted to run against in November, one thing is clear: McCain realizes the potential advantage of an Obama campaign that still has not devoted the necessary efforts to get Latinos to warm to his candidacy.
McCain is very attuned to garnering Latino votes. In fact the road to St. McCains presidential nomination was already paved by Latinos. McCain owes his vitally important Florida win to Repub Latino voters who made up 12% of the turnout and picked him by wide margins in that state.
The scary part about the understated New Mexico effort is that it is smart and indicates that he still knows what he is doing. Usually a direct translation of any marketing ad from English to Spanish is awkward and ill-advised. Not this time. The McCain bio ad that touts his Vietnam experience will play extremely well with Latinos. Latinos have a deeply held commitment to military service and a highly patriotic inner chord that the McCain lobbyists/consultants strike with the ad. In fact the ad may play better in Spanish than in English.
But the real reason that Democrats should worry is that the GOP presidential campaign seems to know the issues that resonate with Latino voters. McCain press secretary Brooke Buchanan recently said about her candidates Latino outreach: "His positions on issues like education, the economy and others resonate with Hispanic voters and we continue to ask for their vote and we will campaign aggressively for it." Education and the economy are key issues for Latino voters and have been for as long as Latinos have been polled. McCain knows it. Do Democrats?
To his credit, DNC Chair Howard Dean has done the best job in DNC history of addressing the Latino electorate. That being said, Dean is not in the position to single-handedly construct the serious effort it will take to stop McCain's encroachment into the Latino voter base. It will take real effort from the DNC but Deans team will need to be bolstered by independent efforts of 527's and yes even the eventual nominee.
The current media dust up on Richardson being dissed makes for entertaining chatter. But while the Clinton /Richardson chatter echoes through the blogosphere McCains words are echoing through the native ruins, canyons, and cliffs of New Mexico.
Mario Solis-Marich is a radio talk show host and the Chief Editor of MyLatinoNews.com. Mario's talk show can be heard at www.GoToMario.com.