Bill Burton, the former Obama spokesperson and now chief of the Obama-backing Priorities USA Super PAC, says the last several days on the Republican presidential campaign trail show a party interested in appearing to court the Hispanic vote while doing everything they can to to amp-up fears of illegal immigrants in the GOP base.
Yesterday, big names in the GOP — like Rick Perry backer and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — gathered in New Mexico to woo the Hispanic vote. The night before, candidates on stage at the Fox News debate wailed away at Perry for being soft on illegal immigration, a charge that seems to be sticking here in Orlando where Republicans are gathered for a big straw poll Perry had hoped to win.
“While the Republican presidential field debated who could be most hostile to Hispanic Americans at the Florida debate, the Republican group American Action Network was setting up the chairs for their ‘Hispanic Leadership Network’ conference in Albuquerque,” Burton wrote in an email to reporters.
He said the “double-talk” from the GOP is “nothing new.” Burton said he expects the eventual GOP nominee to “tack to the center” once the primaries are over, but added that candidate will find the damage has already been done among Hispanic voters. There’s been some talk that Obama will have trouble keeping his Hispanic support after a first-term that saw little action on promised immigration reform, but Burton said the GOP will the a tough sell to Hispanic voters.
“Republican candidates will find out that Hispanic voters, like all Americans, pick a President on much more than a change in rhetoric,” he wrote. “Their right-wing talking points in this primary season on education, job creation, immigration and taxes will not be forgotten.”
