HispanicBusiness

Republican Senator Pete Domenici was re-elected with broad support in the state. Domenici outspent his opponent, former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and Democrat Gloria Tristani, on Spanish-language television advertising $180,000 to $55,000.

Total spending by Republican and Democratic U.S. House candidates in New Mexico surpassed $100,000 in Spanish-language television advertisements this year. Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson, Democratic State Senator Richard M. Romero, Democratic State Senator John Arthur Smith, and Republican State Representative Steve Pearce each spent thousands on Spanish-language ads in either the Albuquerque or El Paso markets in the 2002 election.

Illinois
Spanish-language television advertising in Chicago is not new, but Democratic Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich spent more than $180,000 on these ads during his campaign hoping to ensure elevated support among Hispanic voters. The only other significant spending on Spanish-language ads in the gubernatorial race this year was $30,000 spent by his Democratic primary opponent Paul Vallas.

Meanwhile, Illinois Democratic State Senator Lisa Madigan aired more than $85,000 in Spanish-language television ads in her successful campaign for the state’s Attorney General.

Maryland
Both candidates in the Maryland gubernatorial race, Republican Congressman Bob Ehrlich (the Governor-elect) and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, aired limited amounts of Spanish-language television ads.

FUTURE GROWTH IN SPANISH-LANGUAGE ADS
The rapidly growing Hispanic voter population has spurred the growth in political advertising used to reach these voters. Many of the nation’s leading Hispanic advocacy organizations estimate that by 2004 as many as 1 million new Hispanic citizens will be registered to vote.

New television avenues for reaching these voters are emerging with the continued growth of Univision and Telefuturo, Telemundo, Azteca, and other independent formats that reach millions of the nation’s Hispanic viewers. Growth in this area will provide candidates, parties, and interest groups with new opportunities to reach targeted groups of Hispanic voters. This will also require expansion of the Hispanic Voter Project’s research efforts for the 2004 election.

Significant spending on Spanish-language television ads by Al Gore and George W. Bush in key battleground states in 2000, and the significant national attention paid to their efforts, helped contribute to the confidence in this advertising format that has led to this year’s records. Candidates and consultants gained new insights into the importance of this specialized advertising in districts or states with close elections and a large number of Hispanic voters.

While spending in 2000 was impressive during that year, the millions of dollars spent by individual candidates this year far outpaced what the presidential candidates spent. Political media consultants interviewed for this report unanimously agreed that spending on Spanish-language ads in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries and the general election will outpace 2002 despite a new campaign finance law limiting the use of soft money that went into effect after Election Day.

For more information on Spanish-language advertising during the 2002 campaign cycle, please contact Adam Segal at (202)265-3000 or editor@wcjournal.org.