Democrats are spending an unprecedented $20 million to mobilize Hispanic voters around the candidacy of Barack Obama, whose campaign has already spent more on Latino outreach than any presidential campaign in history.
The news comes as a new Pew Hispanic Center survey finds Obama holding a substantial lead over Republican John McCain among Hispanic voters. The campaign plans to spend money in all 50 states, but will focus on swing states such as Nevada and Florida.
Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) said the Hispanic vote has been described as a "sleeping giant." "Well, the giant has woken up, and it's being prodded now by the Obama campaign, and we're very delighted that that's happening," Solis said at a news conference.
But while some are praising the Obama campaign’s efforts to rally Hispanics, some executives in black media -- and black radio in particularly -- are grumbling privately and publicly about the campaign’s perceived reluctance to spend significant dollars to advertise with black media.
For months, some black broadcasters and media executives have complained that the Obama campaign has shortchanged black media with ad buys, deciding instead to spend a good deal of its money with mainstream media, mostly on television.
However, Corey Ealons, communications director for African-American media, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Tuesday that “conversations are taking place now” with regard to advertising with black media.
“We recognize this is something we have to do,” Ealons said. “It’s not if; it’s when.”
One black media executive who requested anonymity said he's cautiously optimistic.
"We've heard all of this lip service before," he told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "I'll believe it when I see it."
According to The Black Agenda Report, “the black press is just as enthusiastic as African-Americans in general at the prospect of a black man becoming the next occupant of the White House. But black newspaper owners also expected that they would be beneficiaries of what is already the most lavish campaign advertising budget in history: Barack Obama's bulging war chest.
“Instead,” the Report said, black publishers say they have been locked out of Obama's advertising game plan -- and even shunned in their attempts to cover the Obama operation.”
Ealons said he’ll “have some input” toward helping to ease tensions.
Still, Obama has the support of many popular black radio personalities like Tom Joyner, Rev. Al Sharpton, Michael Baisden and their millions of listeners.
“Urban stations can be in ’08 what Rush Limbaugh delivered for conservatives a generation ago,” Sharpton told The New York Times. Sharpton’s two-year-old radio program is syndicated on stations throughout the country. “If you look at the political map of where our shows are, it matches the gap of unregistered voters.”
According to the Times, “Mr. Obama conducted frequent interviews with black radio personalities during the primary season, appearing on programs like 'The Tom Joyner Morning Show,' where his swing through the Middle East was referred to as a 'pre-victory tour' on Friday; the 'Michael Baisden Show,' where the host has joked that the savings from the gasoline tax suspension Mr. McCain supports would help him buy a pack of Now & Laters candy, and 'The Steve Harvey Morning Show.'" Those three shows report reaching a combined audience of nearly 20 million.
Some black radio hosts say Obama may be avoiding black media so he doesn’t alienate white voters.
“There is the appearance he will go to a Larry King before he will go on black radio in, say, Arkansas,” Bev Smith, a black talk radio pioneer based in Pittsburgh, told the Times.
“Barack Obama is walking a thin line because whites will accuse him of being too black, and blacks will accuse him of being too white,” she said. “I think he’s a godsend -- whether he’s on my show or not, I’m going to talk about him every day.”
But Lenora Carter, publisher of the Forward Times in Houston, told Black Agenda Report that she is not pleased with the Obama campaign’s failure to advertise with black media and says Obama has a "total disrespect for the black press."
Said Carter: "I have bills to pay!"
