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Pro-Democrats group advertises in Spanish

WASHINGTON - A group that supports centrist Democratic candidates on Friday launched a $5-million television advertising campaign aimed at Hispanic voters.

The New Democratic Network, convinced that Hispanics could be key to this year's presidential election, said it will air ads in markets with large Hispanic populations.

"The Hispanic vote is not part of the basic constituency of the Democratic Party," said Mike McCurry, White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton and a New Democratic Network advisory board member. "That vote is up for grabs."

"This is more than any other Democratic campaign or organization has ever spent on Spanish language ads," added New Democratic Network president and founder Simon Rosenberg.

Hispanics are now the largest minority in the United States. According to the 2000 census, 12.5 percent of the population identified itself as Hispanic or Latino.

The New Democratic Network has allocated $2.5-million dollars for the TV ads and has just started raising funds for the other half.

Two ads started running on Friday in Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. More markets will be added soon, including Florida next week.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's longtime adviser Karen Hughes, who has been quietly dispensing advice from her home in Texas since she left the White House in 2002, has stepped up her public appearances for the Republican as the campaign season spins into gear.

As one of the president's most loyal protectors, Hughes has appeared in recent days on television news shows, defending the campaign's use of images from the destroyed World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, in ads.

She also took a pointed jab at presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry.

"The Democrats' candidate for president has been having a little message clarity problem," Hughes said in a speech sponsored by the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas on Wednesday.

Bill Burton, a Kerry spokesman, answered back.

"Bush does have a clear message - the worst job loss since Herbert Hoover. You can't really be more clear than that," Burton said.

Before leaving the White House to return to Texas with her family, Hughes oversaw more than 40 aides. Since then, she has been flying back and forth to Washington nearly every week and is in telephone contact with the president and the senior staff more often than that.

As a trusted friend and adviser to the president and first lady Laura Bush, Hughes will serve the campaign as a senior adviser, providing guidance on "all aspects of campaign strategy," said Nicolle Devenish, spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04.

WASHINGTON - Hipster retailer Urban Outfitters yanked its "Voting is for Old People" T-shirt Friday after critics said it was encouraging political apathy.

The Philadelphia-based clothing chain is "primarily made up of young men and women who are obviously very concerned with the future of this country," the retailer said in a statement released Friday night.

"We are optimistic, open-minded and outspoken - our manner is the antithesis of apathetic. We have no interest in discouraging anyone, much less, young people from voting. Thus we regret the misunderstanding that has occurred, but we appreciate the emotional debate that both the T-shirt and (designer John) Keddie have created."

Critics, including the Harvard Institute of Politics, ripped the T-shirt recently for what they called "the wrong statement at the wrong time" in the pivotal presidential election year.