Democrat group to target Latino voters

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Latino voters in the United States will be the target of a $5 million media campaign soon to be unveiled by the New Democrat Network of Washington, D.C.

The NDN, a liberal group operating independently from the national party, told United Press International the campaign is aimed at taking the Democrat's traditional message to voters in the nation's Spanish-speaking community.

NDN Vice President Maria Cardona says the effort begins with $75,000 worth of television spots that begin airing Friday on the television broadcast outlets of Spanish-language Univision and Telemundo in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

Cardona described the first spot as "a positive ad" that talks about the party's agenda and its history of friendly relations with the Latino community. The second, she said, is "a hard-hitting negative ad that criticizes Bush for not keeping his promise to Latino children to fully fund public schools."

The NDN has assembled a special board of advisors to oversee the project. It includes former Clinton White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Mayor Raul Martinez of Hialeah, Fla. and Henry Cisneros, the former U.S. Housing secretary and former mayor of San Antonio.