GOP foray into Spanish TV: savvy or pandering?

Hola damas y caballeros!

Welcome to another edition of "Abriendo Caminos," the hip – and deliberately politically correct – monthly television show that encourages Hispanic Americans to flex their muscle at the voting booth, preferably for Republicans.

Listen to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez spin his Horatio Alger tale about fleeing Cuba to become a naturalized citizen and realize his dream of freedom. Hear the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, pronounce her last name ("Arroz") in Spanish. See Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill hobnob with Bono of the rock band U2 about debt relief in Latin America. And for all those college kids worried about too much wonkishness, there's a spicy musical soundtrack ranging from Tejana to Salsa.

Yet the creator of "Abriendo Caminos" isn't a major network, or CNN, or PBS. This half-hour "news magazine" is produced inside the plush studios of GOP-TV in Washington.

It is paid political programming broadcast once a month in Spanish to television stations that reach potentially millions of Hispanic viewers in select cities. Debuting in May, the half-hour program is part of an ambitious $1 million bid by the Republican National Committee (Comite Nacional Republicano) to woo ambivalent Hispanic Democrats and appeal to unregistered voters.

It represents the rise of a new kind of political programming. Yet behind the initiative lies an enduring question about messages targeted at specific ethnic groups: Will it will be viewed as effective communication or a form of pandering?

Certainly, Republicans have good reason to try something new. Americans of Latino heritage represent the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. Estimates put the number of voting-age Latinos at 23 million nationwide.

But Hispanics traditionally have voted overwhelmingly Democratic, with the exception of Cuban-Americans, who are concentrated largely in Florida.

President Bush has made inroads into the Hispanic community. Although he garnered barely 1 in 3 Latino votes in the 2000 election, that represented the most Hispanic support of any GOP president in history. Moreover, recent polls show the president now drawing virtually even with Al Gore among Latino voters, though Democrats still outpoll Republicans by substantial margins in congressional races.

"There's an increasing realization in the Republican party that demographics is destiny – and that unless they are successful at reaching out to Hispanics they will be a minority party in the near future," says Marshall Wittmann of the Hudson Institute in Washington.

"Abriendo Caminos" (Forging New Paths) is a mix of news, consumer updates, and interviews with administration officials. So far, target cities include Denver, Albuquerque, N.M., Fresno, Calif., Las Vegas, Miami, and Orlando, Fla.

"This kind of programming is a first for a major political party," says Sharon Castillo, the show's anchor and a former Spanish TV reporter. "We believe we have a historic opportunity to make inroads with the Latino community by using a powerful communications vehicle in the language of viewers' first preference."

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