October, 19 2010, 02:24pm EDT
GOP Attempts to Suppress Latino Vote in Nevada
Angle Campaign, New Third-Party Ad Deliver One-Two Punch in the Face to Latino Voters
WASHINGTON
Following
Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle's outrageous
anti-Latino campaign ads, and fumbled attempts to "explain" them to a
group of Latino students, a third-party organization with ties to the
Republican National Committee is running a new Spanish-language ad in Nevada that tells Latino voters to just stay home.
Funded by a Republican-linked organization misleadingly named "Latinos for Reform," the ad says,
"Don't vote this November. This is the only way to send them a clear
message. You can no longer take us for granted," referring to Democrats.
According to Real Clear Politics,
the Latinos for Reform website ridiculously accuses Democrats of
intentionally undermining "even the smallest of [immigration] reform
efforts," criticizing Democrats for trying to pass the DREAM Act as part
of the Defense Authorization bill "in order to claim sabotage from
Republicans as a reason they couldn't pass reform." Far from being an impartial observer,
Latinos for Reform is an Alexandria, VA-based organization with a
direct tie to Republican politics. The head of the organization is
Robert Deposada, a former Republican National Committee (RNC) director
of Hispanic affairs.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice, "This
is overt voter suppression, and it's ugly. It's precisely because of
Sharron Angle's nasty attack ads on immigration and this latest voter
suppression tactic that Latino voters in Nevada should vote. They comprise 12% of the Nevada electorate, and a large turnout could prove to be fatal for Angle."
Judging by Angle's anti-Latino ads, recent comments to Latino high school students, adamantly anti-immigration reform stance, and embrace of notorious anti-Latino Sheriff Joe Arpaio,
her campaign has clearly written off the Latino vote in the race
against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). In contrast to Angle,
Senate Majority Leader Reid is a strong advocate for immigration reform
policies that are supported not only by Latino voters, but the broader electorate as well. Reid was instrumental in bringing the DREAM Act up for Senate action in September. Recent polling from Latino Decisions
shows that Latino registered voters in Nevada favor Democratic
candidates by a whopping 68% to 16% margin over Republicans, and that attempting to move the DREAM Act as part of the Defense authorization bill was extremely popular with Latino voters.
Latino voters made up over 12% of the Nevada electorate in 2008 and
Latino voter turnout there jumped by over 164% between 2000 and 2008.
In 2004, 76% of Nevada Latinos voted for Barack Obama, helping him win a
state that George W. Bush had won in both 2000 and 2004. Clearly,
Latinos could be the deciding factor in the close Senate race. Given
Angle's immigration stance, Republican operatives are clearly worried
that they can't compete for Latino voters, and have settled on the next
best strategy: telling them to stay home.
In the 2008 election cycle, Latinos for Reform aired a Spanish language ad using race-baiting claims against candidate Barack Obama. The ad was called "highly misleading" by FactCheck.org.
Read more about the immigration stances of Harry Reid, Sharron Angle,
and others in the America's Voice report, "The Power of the Latino Vote
in America": https://americasvoiceonline.org/LatinoVoterReport
America's Voice -- Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform. The mission of America's Voice is to realize the promise of workable and humane comprehensive immigration reform. Our goal is to build the public support and create the political momentum for reforms that will transform a dysfunctional immigration system that does not work into a regulatory system that does.
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