thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
By TRIP GABRIEL
January 2, 2012, 6:24 pm

WALFORD, Iowa

Newt Gingrich promises to make English the official language of government, but on Monday he sent an e-mail appeal in Spanish asking for support at the Iowa caucuses.

With the subject line, “Ayudenos en Iowa,” the message continued in Spanish: “The Hispanic community is so important to the success of this campaign and you can make all the difference by making calls and getting the citizens of Iowa to vote on Jan. 3.’’

It asked supporters to make phone calls from home to rally voters, explaining how to log on to the campaign’s Web site. “Please note there is a choice on top where you can switch between English and Spanish, depending on the language of the person who answers,’’ the message explained.

Mr. Gingrich, like the other Republican candidates, regularly hears at town hall meetings in Iowa that a slice of voters are deeply disturbed about the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in the country. A woman pressed him at an appearance here on Monday: “How can you convince me and others that you’re the candidate” who’s going to do something?

He repeated that he would make English the official language of government, a call that earned him some of the loudest applause of the day.

Relative to some other candidates, including Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, Mr. Gingrich has a more moderate stance on the issue, saying it is impractical and inhumane to deport all illegal immigrants. He would allow those who have lived in the country 25 years who have deep roots in communities to acquire legal residency.

For years before he became a candidate, Mr. Gingrich sought to build bridges to Hispanic voters, an increasingly important bloc in swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. He started a Spanish-language news site, the Americano, aimed at Spanish-speaking conservatives. But experts in Hispanic voting patterns have said that the fevered talk about illegal immigration at Republican debates this year, including pledges to veto “Dream Act”-style measures that allow children to attend college, risked turning away Hispanic voters.

Asked if the Spanish-language appeal contradicted Mr. Gingrich’s call for English-only government transactions, a campaign spokesman said that Mr. Gingrich believes English should be the official language of the government. But he wants to communicate his message in the language of others.

“Juntos podemos reconstruir los Estados Unidos que amamos,’’ Mr. Gingrich’s message concludes.

“Together we can rebuild the America we love.’’

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