Bilingual Touch to Campaign 2000

Until recently, many of Al Gore’s longtime aides did not even know he can speak Spanish.

True, after acquiring the language as a teenager one summer in Mexico, Gore lost most of what he learned. But it is coming back quickly, the vice president said.

And just in time too.

With the approach of a presidential campaign in which Latino voters will be more influential than ever, Gore rarely passes up the opportunity to show off his proficiency in Spanish--whether in East Los Angeles or, as he did here recently, at a black-tie gala celebrating the 70th anniversary of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“Felicidades, LULAC, por setenta anos de servicio. Que dios les de setenta mas!” he told 400 delighted activists. (“Congratulations, LULAC, for 70 years of service. May God grant 70 more!”)

Gore’s undisguised pitch for Latino support foreshadows a vigorous battle for the hearts and minds of America’s more than 7 million Latino voters in next year’s presidential election.

Although such voters have shown a strong Democratic preference in recent years, the presence of Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Texas Gov. George W. Bush as potential Republican presidential nominees provides a timely reminder to Democrats that they cannot take Latinos for granted.

“Anyone who ignores us does so at his own peril. There’s no lock on the Latino vote,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), past chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“Latino voters are extremely independent,” added Lydia Camarillo, executive director of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in San Antonio. “They are not going to vote for a Democrat just because he or she is a Democrat. They will vote for candidates because of the positions they stand for.”

To be sure, the Clinton-Gore ticket in 1996 won 71% of Latino votes, a 16-point increase over 1992. Even in Florida, with a huge, conservative Cuban American population that traditionally has been pro-Republican, exit polls in 1996 showed Latinos almost equally divided between President Clinton and Bob Dole, the GOP candidate. And Gray Davis last year won more than 70% of Latino votes when he was elected governor of California.

But political analysts said such strong Democratic showings among Latino voters may be less an embrace of the Clinton-Gore administration and the Democratic Party than a rejection of a GOP agenda that many Latinos find anti-immigrant.

Still, Republican strategists acknowledge that their party has a tougher courtship ahead.

“Republicans have got to position themselves as a party that’s tolerant. That’s Step 1--before you get into specific Latino strategies and tactics,” said Scott Reed, who managed Dole’s campaign. “And we’ve got to address that now. This takes time.”

The 1998 reelection campaigns of Bush and McCain illuminated the possibilities for GOP candidates.

By emphasizing an inclusive agenda that celebrated diversity, both men won large percentages of Latino votes en route to resounding victories.

After four years of practicing, as well as preaching, multiculturalism and tolerance, Bush in November won 49% of the Latino vote. He also routinely converses in fluent Spanish during interviews with Spanish-language media.

McCain has captured a majority of the Latino vote in two consecutive Senate elections, winning the backing of 55% of Latinos in November--an impressive showing in a state that Clinton carried in 1996.

“But I’m not satisfied with that number,” he said. “I want all their votes. Their support is my honor.”

McCain does not pretend to be facile with Spanish. So he is content to let his record speak for itself. And he repeatedly has parted company with GOP orthodoxy over issues of concern to immigrants and minorities.

McCain, who also was honored at the LULAC event, made his own pitch that night for Latino votes, following Gore to the podium and pronouncing himself the only statewide GOP candidate in Arizona ever to win a majority of the Latino vote. He denounced “English-only” laws and various anti-immigration initiatives favored by many Republicans.

McCain’s remarks were all but indistinguishable from those of the vice president.

“We don’t need more division in our own country,” Gore said. “We don’t need more attempts to roll back affirmative action. We don’t need to exploit bilingual education for political gain or propose phony ballot initiatives.”

The swelling rolls of Latino voters come at a time when overall voter participation continues to drop, further increasing Latinos’ clout.

In the last four years, the number of Latinos registered to vote has grown by 25%, now exceeding 7.1 million people.

In the face of such demographics, it is little wonder that a campaigning Gore last fall vividly displayed his newfound ability to connect with Latinos during a visit to East Los Angeles.

At a pep rally at the Boyle Heights Senior Citizens Center, he waded into a small but enthusiastic group of Latino union workers about to launch a voter registration drive. Without hesitation, the shirt-sleeved Gore joined them in a clapping, rhythmic chant--in Spanish.

“His Spanish has really improved in the six years that I’ve been listening to him closely. And what an opportune time to have it come back,” said an approving Becerra, who also attended that late-October afternoon rally.

In a later interview, the vice president reminisced about the summer he spent in Mexico with family friends as a 16-year-old immersed in a foreign culture and language.

“I lived with them for a summer--had to learn Spanish,” Gore recalled. “They all spoke to me in Spanish the entire time. I started dreaming in Spanish.”

A week after the LULAC bash, McCain displayed anew his ability to attract Latino recognition when another high-powered activist group, the National Council of La Raza, cited him as “a longtime friend” and “a strong voice for compassion, fairness and inclusion in his party.”