Spanish language ad by Dems faulting GOP for migration failures
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 20, 2006

Yvonne Wingett and Mike Madden
Democrats on Wednesday launched a Spanish-language radio campaign in Arizona, blaming the Republican-controlled Congress for blocking progress on immigration reform. The ad comes one day after Republicans stopped airing Spanish ads this week, blaming Democrats for the same.

The 60-second spot will run this week in the same heavily Hispanic states the GOP advertised in, including Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Democrats would not say which stations would air the spots, but part of their national buy likely included Univision Radio stations in Phoenix. As the debate over illegal immigration has heightened, so too has use of the Valley's Spanish-language newspapers and radio and TV stations, educating listeners about dueling proposals and the personalities behind them.

Republicans and Democrats see Spanish media as a key way to capture the votes of a growing number of first- and second-generation Latinos.

The commercials are the latest political jostling over immigration.

The political elbowing started before Congress left for Easter recess two weeks ago with the Senate stalled over how to proceed with a bipartisan compromise bill.

"Howard Dean and the Democrats are continuing to prove that they have absolutely no intention of working to reform immigration," Republican National Committee Spokesman Tucker Bound said. "The latest DNC ad is just another example that Democrats are committed to misleading Americans and manipulating the immigration issue for political gain."