Thread: Spanish political ads kick off Bloomberg TV campaign

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Spanish political ads kick off Bloomberg TV campaign
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, May 17th, 2005

Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg is targeting Latino voters with the first television advertisements of his re-election campaign, which feature him speaking entirely in Spanish.

The ads unveiled Tuesday begin a bilingual blitz expected to continue for several days, highlighting themes like the city's reviving economy, safe streets and better schools. Ads in English are scheduled for later this week.

The two Spanish spots, 30 and 60 seconds long, show uplifting city scenes like children on playgrounds and construction workers mixed with urban images of skyscrapers and police officers with handcuffs. Bloomberg, who has a Spanish tutor, trades lines with the female voiceover.

Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said this is the first citywide campaign to begin its television ads in a language other than English.

"Others may write off the Latino vote or take it for granted, but Mike Bloomberg is putting the people and the resources in place to be able to ask all New Yorkers for their votes," Sheekey said.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed just 30 percent of Hispanic voters approved of the job Bloomberg is doing, while 54 percent of white voters approved.

Bloomberg's Democratic opponents were quick to slam him for pouring his money into a costly TV campaign - reportedly close to $1 million - so early in the race. Campaign finance data released last week showed Bloomberg already has spent nearly $10 million, putting him on track to exceed the $74 million he spent to get elected in 2001.

The ads will air on Spanish-language cable stations - targeting a voting bloc considered a strong base for Democratic front-runner Fernando Ferrer, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry.

Ferrer said in a statement Tuesday that "bad policies are bad policies in any language, and Mike Bloomberg's policies are indefensible no matter how many millions of dollars he spends."

I guess this yahoo took a page out of Jorge Bush's book called hispandering 101.

That figures. This is one of the reasons why Bloomberg doesn't want to print a criminal's legal status when they commit a crime in NY. He loves buying and owning things and people.

Absolutely outrageous! Especially since so many of the ones he's talking to are illegal and CANNOT, by law which doesn't matter must these days, vote.

RR