Mitt Romney laughed off the suggestion on Thursday that if elected he would be the country’s first Mexican-American President. The Univision host Jorge Ramos cheekily asked about Romney’s Mexican heritage, referencing the fact that Romney’s father was born in a Mormon encampment in Mexico.
“I would love to be able to convince people of that,” Romney joked in response. “Particularly in a Florida primary.” But, he added, “I don’t think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American.”
The Florida primary on January 31 is the first time in this cycle that the candidates have had to appeal to Latino voters. Whereas in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney was courting white audiences as the far-right candidate on immigration, Romney is now moderating his stance for a Florida audience, where 11% of registered Republicans are Latino. Gingrich has struck a more moderate tone on immigration and Romney needs to win over at least some of this community.
Since Romney began running on an extreme anti-immigration agenda, he must have known he would eventually have to temper his position in Florida and ultimately in the general election. And Democrats don’t want him to get away with it.
Enter the service workers union SEIU and pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action. The two groups have teamed up for a Spanish-language radio ad campaign in Florida attacking Romney. But rather than hammering his positions head-on, the liberal groups are attacking Romney’s strategy of saying one thing to white audiences and something else to Latinos.
Their first ad want on air Tuesday with a six-figure ad buy in targeted markets in Florida. Called “Dos Caras” or “Two Faces,” the spot attacks Romney for running exactly the kind of campaign he has run — saying one thing to the Hispanic community and the opposite to everyone else.
Monday night’s debate in Florida is a good example. Asked about the Dream Act — which he has called a “handout” two weeks ago and said he would veto — Romney qualified his stance by saying his was open to a bill that provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who join the military. Asked about it on a conference call Tuesday, Paul Begala, senior adviser for Priorities USA replied: “If you want to know his position, take a look at where he’s standing and who he’s talking to.”
That’s the first level of Democrats’ attack on Mitt Romney as he reaches out to the Latino community now. But the radio ad also hints at their trump card which could become a big issue in the general election: Romney’s embrace of the anti-immigration laws in Arizona and Alabama and the man who’s behind them, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Romney’s code-word here is “self-deportation;” in essence, it’s a strategy of making life so miserable for Latinos that they are forced to leave the country. When Romney talks about his position, he mentions identification cards, E-Verify, and punishments for business who hire undocumented immigrants — policies that would make it impossible for undocumented immigrants to work in the United States. Critics charge it with being harassment by law enforcement — in cases where it’s been put into practice in Alabama it’s included losing running water, and kids dropping out of schools.
In Florida Romney’s tried to brush aside his position on immigration and play the Cuban card instead, embracing an aggressive policy against Fidel Castro. That may work in the Florida primary, where poll show him leading Gingrich, but it won’t be enough to make-up for his position on immigration reform down the road.
At the end of the day, Democrats and their allies say they’ll be able to point to Arizona and Alabama and say, the Obama administration filed lawsuits to stop these laws; Romney is for them.
Romney’s strategy of tacking far to the right on immigration and then reaching out to the Latino community was, of course, sensed a mile away. “Mitt Romney can surround himself, if he wishes, with all the Cuban Republicans in the world,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said on a conference call last week, “and he will be doing exactly that in Florida. But look, the stink of all the anti-immigrant positions has taken just isn’t gonna rub off.”
Gutierrez was right. Less than an hour after the Univision interview, Romney was making a speech before the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC. Between Romney and Gingrich next Tuesday, that strategy could work. But all over the airwaves, Democrats are making sure that Romney’s strategy will backfire down the road — that he can’t call himself something he isn’t and get away with it.
