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Republicans Tout Two Spanish-Speaking Candidates, Will it Matter?


Senator-Marco-Rubio.jpgPresident Barack Obama garnered 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2012 Presidential election - and he doesn't speak Spanish fluently.  Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner in the 2016 Presidential race doesn't speak Spanish either. But the top two Republican presidential candidates, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 62 and Miami Sen. Marco Rubio, 43, speak Spanish like natives.

But will that give them an edge in trying to win registered Spanish-speaking Americans to the GOP banner by Election Day November 2016?  I think not.

And that reasoning comes from the latest data put together by Pew Research Center of Washington, DC. Pew is considered by many in the media as the New York Yankees of the political research world.

Here is how Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Hispanic research at Pew, sees the picture:

● Among registered Hispanic voters, 83 percent prefer English, or are bilingual. That obviously shows the number of Latinos who speak Spanish at home is shrinking.
● Only 17 percent confirm Spanish as their dominant language.
● Spanish is more heavily preferred among Latinos who are not registered to vote in the U.S.
● By 2020, only 66% of Latinos will speak Spanish as a first language.
● Thirty-four percent will only speak English. Almost the same thing happened at the start of the 20th century among American families speaking Italian, German, and Polish.


Even Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, 44, a second generation Hispanic, is embarrassed that he cannot converse fluently with potential voters in his heavily Spanish bailiwick.

Rand Paul, 52, a GOP Senator from Kentucky since 2011, tries out his Spanish before selected audiences but concedes he cannot keep up a lengthy conversation in fluent Spanish.

Another contender, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 65, can understand his Spanish-speaking supporters but says it would be challenging for him to answer their questions in fluent Spanish.

And remember George W. Bush, 68, the brother of Jeb Bush and the 43rd president of the U.S. (2001--2009) when he was confronted with a Spanish-speaking group?  Why, of course.  George would just show his pearly whites and then nod his head, up or down, or sideways in response to a question. It worked for him.

Newly announced candidates for the White House residency may also have to try the same gambit. They, too, are less than fluent in Spanish.

● Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 59, from Hope, AR, which also happens to be former president Bill Clinton's old hometown;
● Retired Detroit neurosurgeon Ben Carson, 63.
● Former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard Carly Fiorini, 60. Huckabee, Carson and Fiorini are Republicans.
● Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders, 74, representing Vermont since 2007.
 
How important or historic will the Spanish language become when the nation's polls finally close Nov. 8, 2016?
 
If Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio is the country's newest leader, it will be historic because it will mark the first Spanish-speaking president of the United States.
 
If Hillary Clinton wins, her victory will also become historic because it will mark the first lady president of the U.S.
 
And that's the way it is at this moment. 

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