Politicians from both parties are paying increasing attention to Hispanics because the number of Spanish-speaking people in the United States exploded between 1990 and 2000. Calls from Hispanics to congressional offices have increased on such issues as immigration and workers' compensation, according to congressional aides.
Many Southeastern congressmen have at least one staff member who is fluent in Spanish.
Three years ago, North Carolina's Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-2nd, assembled a committee to advise him on issues important to Hispanics in his district, where the number grew by638 percent to 47,817. Many Hispanics who were born in this country will reach voting age during the next 10 years, officials say. One effect of that will be, as that population grows, that Southeastern congressmen will be less likely to use Hispanic issues as a bargaining chip in negotiations with congressmen from traditional Hispanic districts in Texas or New Mexico, said Amilcar Antonio Barreto, an assistant professor of political science at Northeastern University. Both parties are mounting aggressive efforts to lure Hispanics. The ad, which blasts President Bush, marks the first time that the Democratic Party has bought ads for Spanish-language media in a nonelection year.