In a recent debate, Democratic presidential candidates participated in a bi-lingual exchange in an effort to appeal to the Spanish-speaking portion of the population. Unfortunately their attempt to reach out to the Spanish-speaking populace may have backfired, causing a riff with the English-speaking legal immigrants who join with the United States citizens who wonder why the Democrats are speaking in a language that is foreign to the general populace.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd usurped the guidelines of the debate by speaking directly in Spanish, the only two candidates of speaking the language fluently. The moderator had to remind them of the rules that the questions would be asked in Spanish and translated into English through earpieces for the candidates. The candidates were to answer in English and their answers would be translated into Spanish.
This was established to give all candidates an even the playing field in the debate, sponsored by Spanish-language television network Univision. The network had also planned a similar debate with Republican candidates, but Senator John McCain was the only one to accept leading Univision to abandon the effort. According to USA Election Polls (USAElectionPolls.com), McCain is doing best in the Western states, which was predicted. His strongest hold is in Arizona.
Throughout the debate the subject of immigration was a popular point and Richardson blasted away at the plan to build a fence along the country’s southern border. Dodd, addressing the crowd in south Florida, heavily populated by Cuban immigrants, said he wanted to see steps taken to end the Cuban embargo and with the ill health of Cuba’s President Fidel Castro, he saw no reason to continue the cold war-era embargo.
