The nation’s largest Spanish-language network has invited presidential candidates from both parties to attend debates conducted in Spanish, and Gov. Bill Richardson is the first to accept.
Univision plans to hold the Democratic and Republican candidate debates on two Sundays in September. They would be held in
The Democratic debate is scheduled for Sept. 9 at the
Deciding whether to attend will be especially tricky for GOP candidates. All but John McCain support making English the nation’s official language. On the Democratic side, only Mike Gravel favors such a policy, but there’s another awkward factor to these debates: Among candidates from both parties, only Democrats Richardson and Chris Dodd are known to be fluent in Spanish.
Particularly in the Democratic Party, do the others participate through the use of translators and highlight their Spanish handicap in front of an audience that will place importance on fluency, or do they skip the debate altogether?
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to reach the Latino community, which will play a pivotal role in choosing the next president,” he said in a news release. “… I challenge my fellow Democratic candidates to participate in this debate and not to find reasons to avoid it. Diversity is a fundamental Democratic issue. We should be committed to reaching the broadest range of Americans possible, and the Latino community is critical to winning the nomination and the presidency in 2008.”
Univision is the fifth most viewed network in the
Hillary Clinton recently angered many in the American Indian community by declining an invitation to attend the Aug. 23 Prez on the Rez debate in
Meanwhile,
The last poll by the group, conducted in March, had
But
Al Gore, who isn’t running, was also included in the poll, and tied
Several polls of likely Democratic voters in
Another, non-scientific poll may be more interesting.
WMUR 9 in
Since a similar surge isn’t reflected in the newest scientific poll, this doesn’t mean much other than proving that