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Democrats Gain Points With Univision Debate

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By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, The Associated Press

Published: September 11, 2007

Updated: 09/11/2007 12:13 am

MIAMI - The Democratic candidates who attended Univision's landmark Spanish-language presidential forum delivered more symbolism than substance - but that symbolism likely will weigh heavily in next year's election, as viewership of the forum showed.

The debate was watched by 4.6 million people Sunday night, according to ratings from Nielsen Media Research, with most of the viewers coming from the nation's 44 million Hispanics.

That compared with an average of 4.3 million viewers for debates this year on ABC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC - and Univision was facing competition from the National Football League's opening weekend.

Alex Correa, a University of Miami senior, said the debate was 'an amazing experience as a student and as a Hispanic.' A Republican, he said he wouldn't rule out voting for a Democrat who puts more focus on Latin-American policy and has a clear vision for solving the situation in Iraq.

Correa and other Hispanics said Monday that it would take more than one debate to help them choose, but the fact that the candidates showed up at all and were willing to answer questions targeted toward Hispanics went a long way.

Beyond the ratings, the Univision forum provided an opportunity for the Democrats to cement their party as the pro-immigrant party.

All seven of the candidates who attended, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, acknowledged the perception of many Hispanics and others that the debate over illegal immigration has veered into anti-Hispanic rhetoric. And they promised to combat it.

'Does this help the Democratic Party look more friendly to Hispanics? Definitely so,' said University of Miami political science Professor George Gonzalez. 'It's an important symbol that Hispanics are accepted and welcome members of the community.'

Still, he noted that the candidates were short on specifics. And on some questions they seemed unprepared. Clinton, Obama and Sen. Chris Dodd fell back on lines about their support for border security when asked why they voted in favor of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and not along the U.S.-Canada border. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sidestepped a question about whether Spanish should be a second national language. John Edwards failed to answer the question about whether illegal immigrants were necessary to the U.S. economy.

But the candidates promised that during their first year in office they would push for a comprehensive immigration law that would include a path to citizenship for the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, again separating themselves from the Republican candidates who have generally favored border security measures first and then, down the road, a plan to deal with the illegal immigrants still in the country.

At the close of Sunday's debate, Univision co-anchors and moderators Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas offered a renewed on-air plea to Republicans to participate in a similar forum.

'We have absolute journalistic independence, and our invitation stands to candidates of the Republican Party,' Ramos said.

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