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CNN Live Saturday

Both Parties Court Hispanic Voters

Aired May 05, 2001 - 12:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The Democrats joined President Bush in giving the nation a lesson in Spanish today. Both radio addresses were bilingual.

CNN's Kelly Wallace is at the White House with those details and more. Hi, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Donna. Well, after Democrats learned that President Bush was going to deliver his radio address in English and also in Spanish, they decided to do the same.

And there is reason for the first-ever back-to-back bilingual radio responses, and that is the nation's Hispanic population grew by nearly 60 percent over the past decade. And that means that Hispanics now rival African-Americans as being the nation's largest minority group. And so, Republicans and Democrats are both stepping up efforts to court what could be a very crucial voting block.

In his radio address, President Bush, first in English and then in Spanish, talked about how he came to appreciate the Hispanic culture after growing up in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In Texas, it is in the air you breathe. Hispanic life, Hispanic culture and Hispanic values are inseparable from the life of our state, and have been for many generations.

The history of Mexican-American relations has had its troubled moments, but today our peoples enrich each other in trade, and culture, and family ties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And since becoming president, Mr. Bush has taken some steps to reach out to Hispanic voters. In fact, just yesterday, he hosted the first-ever Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House, complete with Mexican singers, and mariachi bands, and Mexican food, and also his Hispanic nephew, George P. Bush, who campaigned a great deal for his uncle last year.

Also, just last month, the president invited the members of the congressional Hispanic caucus here to the White House. So, president fared quite well with Latino voters last year, capturing about 31 to 35 percent of the Hispanic vote.

And those results, combined with his efforts to reach out to Hispanics as president, have gotten the attention of the Democratic Party. In fact, the Democratic National Committee says it is taking an unprecedented step in an off-election year by launching $80,000 in television ads, the ads to appear on Spanish-language stations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DNC AD")

NARRATOR: SPEAKING IN SPANISH.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And in the ads which you can see are completely in Spanish, the Democrats accuse President Bush of doing virtually nothing for the Hispanic community during his first 100 days in office. And also, Democrats plan to begin later today the first in weekly radio addresses in Spanish to air on Spanish radio stations.

And so, Donna, just about 18 months before the midterm elections actually take place and three-and-half years before the next presidential election, the race to court Hispanic voters has truly begun. Back to you, Donna.

KELLEY: Kelly Wallace at the White House, thank you.

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