Party chief: Hispanics key to win

Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe says his party is working hard to persuade Hispanics to vote for John Kerry.

CORAL GABLES - Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe on Wednesday touted the party's Hispanic outreach program for the presidential campaign in Florida.

McAuliffe said Democrats will use voter registration drives, TV advertisements in Spanish and English and e-mail to persuade Hispanics to support Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in November.

"We have a great nominee who ... knows winning the Hispanic vote is the key to this victory," McAuliffe said in a discussion with editors, reporters and supporters.

McAuliffe said Hispanics are becoming increasingly frustrated with President Bush's programs to bring democracy to Cuba and said the president hasn't effectively dealt with Latin American issues.

"He thinks bringing a mariachi band to the White House is a Hispanic outreach program," McAuliffe said. "You know what? It's all photo ops. It's all talk. He doesn't listen."

Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, defended Bush's record on Cuba, saying Bush has made it tougher for people to travel illegally to Cuba. He said Kerry has no plan to deal with Cuba and has flip-flopped on the economic embargo against the communist nation.

He said his party has an "aggressive outreach effort" that includes running TV ads and meeting new U.S. citizens at naturalization ceremonies.

Gillespie said, "Terry is kidding himself. He's seen the Hispanic share of the vote increase from 26 percent for (1996 presidential candidate) Bob Dole to 35 percent for Bush, ... and he knows it's going to go higher in this election."

Florida's 2.7-million Hispanics are considered a swing voting group in a state where the 2000 presidential race was decided by 537 votes in a recount.

Many Cuban-Americans in South Florida voted for Bush in 2000, but more Puerto Ricans and non-Cuban Hispanics in Central Florida chose Democrat Al Gore, who won 65 percent of the Hispanic vote nationwide. Gov. Jeb Bush won the Hispanic vote over his Democratic rival, Bill McBride, in the 2002 gubernatorial election.

Poll results released by the Miami Herald this month showed that Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has a sizable lead over Bush among Hispanic voters nationwide, 58 percent to 33 percent.

Kerry has been meeting regularly with Cuban-Americans to gauge their opinions about a stronger policy on Cuba, McAuliffe said.

But political scientist Dario Moreno, a professor at Florida International University, said Democrats face a challenge in Florida because, despite Gore's Central Florida support, about 66 percent of Hispanics in the state - and more than 80 percent of Cuban-Americans - voted for Bush in 2000.

McAuliffe was wrapping up a three-day fundraising swing through South Florida that coincided with Kerry's visit to the area. The party and Kerry's campaign raised more than $4-million at several fundraisers, and McAuliffe said the national party has about $31-million in the bank.

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