GOP Blows off Latinos in CNN/Tea Party Express Debate

While the media's political high priests go gaga over Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's lying about the effects of the HPV vaccine and Texas Gov. Rick Perry's cozy role with pharmaceutical giant Merck, the biggest issue to emerge from the CNN/Tea Party Express debate is virtually being ignored.

On Monday, a basic question about what the GOP should do to appeal to Latinos turned into a vicious discussion about building a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border, about how the DREAM Act is a horrible piece of legislation, and the typical Republican talking points about how awful illegal immigration is for the country.

Remember: The question had nothing to do with confronting illegal immigration. It was a softball question that any amateur politician could have answered in his or her sleep. About the only one who looked like a sane human being was Perry, who defended his efforts to provide state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants, a position that was met with resistance from the other candidates and the Tea Party audience.

Whether it was a foaming-at-the-mouth Rick Santorum or a pouncing Bachmann, what every candidate on that stage should have said is that Latinos should be attracted to the GOP for the same reason as white — or any other — voters. The common interests of good education, low crime and a chance to live the American Dream cut across every age, race, gender and sex.

But when the GOP hears the word "Latinos," it's as if something clicks that says, "Oh, yeah! Illegal immigrants!"

There's no doubt that the ignoring of the original question showed the true intentions of Republicans on the stage; you'd think that Democrats would have seized on the moment, hitting Hispanic radio and TV over the next few days to drive home the idea of a Republican Party that is hostile to Latinos.

Instead, Democrats focused on the gaffes of Bachmann and Perry — and missed a chance to hone in on a group of voters that President Barack Obama desperately needs to win re-election, especially in the western states.

What this revealed is that when it comes to appealing to Latinos, the nation's largest minority group, a lot of Republican minds revert to a default position of negativity. It reminds me of a group of black Republicans in Illinois that met with party leaders about appealing to African-American voters. When the black Republicans finished their strong presentation, the first statement they heard was, "We are not going to support welfare."

The party leaders ignored the data on school choice, economic empowerment zones and religious issues, because for the largely white Republican leadership, black outreach was all about welfare.

To gain some perspective on the importance of the Latino vote, I reached out to Matt Barreto, a professor at the University of Washington and a partner with Latino Decisions, a polling firm that works with Pacific Market Research.

"In order to win the presidency in 2012," Barreto told me, "the Republican challenger is going to need to carry 40 percent or more of the Latino vote nationally.

However, most candidates in the Republican field seem to be doing everything they can to run away from Latino voters as they court the conservative Tea Party crowd. As they currently stand, the Republican field has absolutely no strategy to connect, (reach out), or appeal to Latino voters, which polling numbers back up.

"In the Aug. 2011 ImpreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll, 45 percent of Latinos said Republicans don't care about the Latino community; 27 percent said Republicans were outright hostile to Latinos; and just 18 percent said Republicans were doing a good job connecting with Latino voters. Likewise, there doesn't seem to be any movement in favor of voting Republican among Latinos in 2012.

"Back in Nov. 2010, Latino Decisions reported that 19 percent of Latino voters said they would vote Republican in 2012, and in our Aug. 2011 tracking poll, exactly 19 percent say they will vote Republican in 2012. The Republican candidates face a considerable gap of 20 points with the Latino electorate if they have any hope of winning states like Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, which all flipped red-to-blue in 2008."

That would all sound like good news for Democrats, but Barreto said that they, too, have problems.

"If the Republicans have a weakness in reaching out to Latinos," Barreto said, "the Democrats are currently not exploiting that. The DNC and the Obama re-election campaign have, so far, done very little public outreach on either Spanish- or English-language TV. While things may be happening behind the scenes, connecting with average voters takes targeted outreach, and so far that doesn't seem to be happening.

"While the Democrats rate much higher than Republicans, just 43 percent of Latinos say the Dems are doing a good job of reaching out to their community, and when it comes to voting in 2012, just 38 percent of Latinos are certain to vote for Obama, with an additional 16 percent saying 'maybe.'

Rather than waiting until Oct. 2012 to make a mad dash for the Latino vote, both parties need to start now by talking to Latino voters, and whoever takes this seriously in 2011 will reap the benefits in 2012."

Obama is clearly in a better position to attract a sizeable share of the Latino vote, which will be a crucial cog in his re-election effort. If the GOP wants to actually win, it is going to have to become more than just a southern, white party. The Democrats clearly have a lock on the black vote, which the GOP won't waste any resources trying to crack.

... Which leaves their opportunities for growth with Latino voters.

But after listening to Monday's debate, the current crop of GOP candidates mostly showed that if the topic isn't illegal immigration, they have no plans to appeal to Latino voters. And that's a position they could come to regret the day after the elections in Nov. 2012.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and author of the book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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