Republicans Expand Hispanic Outreach Effort

Republicans are scrambling to match Democratic efforts to engage Hispanic voters by dispatching outreach directors to Colorado and other key states, according to the Denver Post.

 

In addition to Colorado, the GOP is adding Hispanic outreach directors in Virginia, North Carolina, and New Mexico. Other states considered critical to its effort will follow soon.

 

“We aren’t waiting,” Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call told the Post Thursday. “We know how important this constituency is.”

 

Normally, Call said, voter outreach campaigns come later in an election cycle.

 

But the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign have already begun running Spanish language radio and TV ads as part of its Hispanics for Obama effort, the Post reported.

 

Obama won the traditionally Democratic voting bloc by an overwhelming margin of 67 percent in 2008. Recent polls indicate that up to 70 percent of potential Hispanic voters in this year’s presidential race prefer Obama to presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

 

To help give their candidate a fighting chance, Republican Party officials are also adding more staff to beef up the outreach effort, which also includes a social media and online advertising strategy.

 

Republicans are also targeting their message to focus more on the economy.

 

“At the end of the day, Latinos, just like everyone else, are going to vote for the nominee who is going to make it so I have economic security, so I have a job,” said Alexandra Franceschi, a GOP spokeswoman. “The Republican message is economic security, small businesses, and lower taxes — things that are really going to resonate in the Latino community.”