OP-ED: The Alternative to Romney Race moves to Florida
Mitt Romney’s first Spanish-language ad airing in Florida.
BY ALICIA MENENDEZ
Last night Mitt Romney came one step closer to clinching the Republican nomination, winning the New Hampshire primary by 16 percentage points. This success, compounded with his slim victory in Iowa should have been enough for Romney to cruise through South Carolina and secure the nomination. Only Romney can’t seem to seal the deal, and his fellow contenders won’t let him win without a fight.
“There’s no way they are going to stop the momentum that we have started,” Ron Paul said of his second place finish. “We are dangerous to the status quo of this country.”
“I think we’re in the hunt!” Jon Huntsman told supporters in Manchester, calling his third place showing, “a ticket to ride.”
Even Rick Perry who finished sixth, with less than 1% of the vote is continuing on. In a statement, Perry said the primary results “show the race for a ‘conservative alternative’ to Mitt Romney remains wide open.”
Most importantly, the “alternative to Romney” race will now drag the frontrunner through Florida, giving Republican Hispanics a legitimate opportunity to weigh in on their nominee and forcing Romney to find his way back to the middle on issues such as immigration faster than he would have liked.
Unlike the first three primary states, where Hispanics constitute less than 2% of the overall vote in each state, the Hispanic vote actually matters in Florida, even in a primary. In 2008, Florida’s Hispanic voters accounted for 12% of 2008 GOP primary voters; 54% broke for McCain, 24% for Giuliani, and only 14% for Romney.
In an effort to win over conservative voters, Romney has spent the past year espousing views formerly ascribed only to the GOP fringe, most recently promising to veto the DREAM Act. But as Florida approaches, Romney will need to pivot.
Romney’s Florida efforts include his first Spanish language ad entitled “Nosotros.” The ad, which is voiced by Romney’s son Craig begins, “Los Estados Unidos representa libertad, oportunidad, donde todo es possible,” or in English, “The United States represents liberty, opportunity…where anything is possible.”
Yet on the same day that Romney released his Spanish-language ad, he enthusiastically announced the endorsement of one of the worst enemies of the Latino community: Kris Kobach, the nation’s lead architect on Arizona-style immigration laws, including anti-immigrant legislation in Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.
If Romney continues on down this road, it won’t just be conservative voters who are looking for an alternative to his candidacy.
- ALICIA MENENDEZ, NBC Latino contributor and Founder of DailyGrito.com
