New Barack Obama ad geared toward Hispanic voters

By Tim Collie | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 24, 2008

Democrat Barack Obama unveiled a new radio advertisement Wednesday that targets Hispanic voters with his story of a child raised by a single mother who grows up to become a Chicago community activist and political leader.

"He achieved his success with a good education, but he also had to rely on student loans, which a lot of Hispanic families can identify with," said Freddy Balsera, an Obama campaign spokesman in Miami.

Titled "Nuestro Propio Camino" ("Our own road"), the ad emphasizes educational aid, reducing welfare rolls through job growth and changing the country's immigration system.

"He grew up without a father — raised by his mother with the support of his grandparents," the ad says. "Obama never forgot his roots. ... He worked with churches to help families get job training and after-school care for their children. In the state Senate, he passed a law that helped reduce the welfare rolls by over 80 percent by helping families to secure jobs."

Because it is being broadcast in four so-called battleground states — Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Nevada — the ad does not deal with hot-button South Florida issues such as Cuba. That could prove important because the majority of South Florida's Hispanic voters are Cuban-American, according to George Gonzalez, political science professor at the University of Miami.

"They're facing Cuban-American districts that are still 80-20 Republican, but if the Democrats can bring that down to 60-40, then Obama could carry Florida," Gonzalez said.

The emphasis on immigrant values could touch a chord, but Gonzalez said the message of any ad right now is "almost beside the point."

"Even the safe Republican seats in South Florida are up for grabs, and I'm not sure that the message matters," Gonzalez said.

"This year, South Florida is the same as the rest of the country, which is very concerned about the direction of the economy and the sense of drift in foreign policy. The Republican brand is in trouble, and I think the Democrats may capitalize on that."

The most recent national polls indicate that Obama leads Republican contender John McCain among Hispanics by as much as a two-to-one margin.