‘Latina Oprah' stars in new Obama ads

— --

Cuban-born Cristina Saralegui, sometimes dubbed "the Latina Oprah," tells Hispanic voters in the latest reelection ads for President Barack Obama that his landmark health care law was a "blessing" for them and their families.

The 12-time Emmy winner stars in three new Spanish-language ads set to run in Colorado, Florida and Nevada —three battleground states with vast Latino populations.

When "Obamacare" comes online fully in 18 months "it will be a blessing for millions of Latino families," she says in the one-minute version of the commercial, due to run in Nevada and Florida.

"Some say that it will not help us — that is not so," she says, telling viewers that the law will ensure that "the vast majority of Hispanics" will have access to doctors and hospitals, that it will provide aid to those of modest means and that it will curb abuses by insurance companies.

The ads make no reference to the pending Supreme Court decision on whether the law — or its core feature, the "individual mandate" requiring Americans to have insurance — is constitutional. That decision could up-end every major assumption about how the health care law will shape Obama's reelection fight. In a press release accompanying the ads, the Obama campaign noted that the influential Saralegui "has dedicated her professional career to stressing the importance of Hispanic women and families living healthy and self-empowered lifestyles." Saralegui endorsed Obama on Monday.