Jeb Bush will have to nationalize his popularity with Florida Hispanics, because the Cuban-Americans of greater Miami who supported him as governor do not represent all Hispanic voters, South Florida-based political and economic analyst Raúl Mas said Thursday on
Newsmax TV.
A video of the former Florida governor
paying tribute to a Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo, and speaking only in Spanish, is proof that the effort is well underway, Gladius Consulting CEO Mas told "Newsmax Now" co-host John Bachman.
Story continues below video.
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"The outreach to the Hispanic community, obviously, it didn't go so well for us Republicans last time around," Mas said of the 2012 presidential election, "and this time around we need to find a way to engage with the Hispanic population, particularly young Hispanics."
That's the aim of the video released on Tuesday by Bush's exploratory PAC, Right to Rise, said Mas. In the clip, Bush calls Cinco de Mayo a meaningful day in his home, noting that his wife is a native of Mexico.
"We think of Cinco de Mayo over here in this country as being a celebration where we go, put on funny hats and drink tequila and what-not," said Mas. "It's a very important holiday and commemorates a very important battle in Mexico's independence. He made mention of that. He's on the right track towards gathering attention from the Hispanic community."
Mas said Hispanic outreach also figures into Bush's hiring of Jose Mallea, who managed the victorious 2010 U.S. Senate campaign of Marco Rubio — who has, in turn, preceded his onetime Florida mentor, Bush, as an official candidate for the next Republican presidential nomination.
"That's exactly what Jeb Bush is trying to do both in hiring this campaign manager and also what you saw in that video celebrating Cinco de Mayo and showing a lot of cultural sensitivity," said Mas.
In the big electoral picture, "The Cuban-American vote, as a part of the overall Hispanic population, is relatively small," said Mas.
"We are the conservatives under the Hispanic tent, if you will," he said. "We came here primarily for political reasons, not economic reasons. We tend to vote more conservatively than, say, our Mexican or Puerto Rican counterparts."
But within Florida, a presidential swing state and "a very contentious state," as Mas put it, the political opinions of Cuban-Americans "do matter a great deal," he said.
With
a new poll of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers showing Bush near the back of the pack, Mas also cautioned against judging him — once he formally declares — based on initial results.
"Everybody's understood that he wasn't going to be a barn burner in Iowa and perhaps some of the early states," he said. "Obviously, this is going to be a long campaign. He is not going to have the support, quite frankly, of some of the more conservative elements of the Republican Party who view him as highly suspect on things like education."
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