Republican Nominee Bush Works Hard for Latino Vote

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 4 -- During another Republican National Convention in New Orleans 12 years ago, another George Bush uttered a phrase that would come to haunt him almost as much as his ‘read my lips’ pledge.

He introduced his three Mexican-American grandchildren to President Reagan as “the little brown ones.” The remark chafed Latino voters at the time. But a dozen years later, the son of that former president has forged inroads with that same segment of voters, even actively courting them, political experts say. The symbolism is all too apparent in Philadelphia, where Republicans are holding their 37th national convention.

Bush: ‘Venceremos!’As Bush arrived in Philadelphia Wednesday, the crowd chanted “Viva Bush!” The nominee, a Spanish-speaker, shouted in return, “Venceremos!” (“We shall win”) Cuban-American pop star Jon Secada wooed delegates with a bilingual version of “America the Beautiful.”

And one of those ‘little brown ones,’ George P. Bush, the 24-year-old son of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and nephew of the GOP nominee, spoke Thursday about the party’s push for inclusion. Giving a bilingual speech, he called his uncle “fearlessly inclusive.” “At first blush, it is absolutely terrific,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “It demonstrates that the candidate is focused on this segment of the electorate and that a certain amount of campaign resources have been directed to making him more attractive to Hispanic voters.” Latino voters are traditionally attracted to the Democratic Party, Vargas said.In the 1996 presidential election, Latino voters overwhelmingly supported President Clinton, giving him 72 percent of their vote to 21 percent for Republican candidate Bob Dole. In that election, 61 percent of the registered voters were Democrats. But because the nation’s Latino communities are so diverse, Vargas says, Latino voters cannot simply be grouped into one category. Florida’s Cuban-American voters, for instance, are distinctly different from Mexican-American voters in California or Texas.