AP News, December 9th, 2007
Seven Republican presidential candidates gathered Sunday at the University of Miami for an unusual Spanish-language debate, with immigration high on the agenda and the race in a topsy-turvy state.
The debate comes as polls show former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee bolting from the back of the pack into a leading position in Iowa with less than four weeks before the state holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Univision, the Spanish language television network, and the University of Miami hosted the debate. The questions were to be posed in Spanish and simultaneously translated into English for the candidates. Their responses would also be simultaneously translated into Spanish for broadcast.
Initially scheduled for September, the debate had to be rescheduled because only Sen. John McCain had agreed to appear. This time, the only candidate who refused to attend was Tom Tancredo, a long-shot candidate who has made a tough immigration stance the centerpiece of his campaign.
Immigration has been one of the dividing issues in the GOP campaign and was likely to be a primary topic during the debate. True to its locale near Miami, questions were also likely to address U.S. policy toward Latin American, especially on Cuba and Venezuela.
Republicans have had trouble courting Hispanics, who have become an increasingly significant voting bloc. A poll this week by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center found Hispanic registered voters favor Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 57 percent to 23 percent, a wider gap than in July 2006.
Univision sponsored the same format for a debate among Democratic presidential candidates Sept. 9.
(This version CORRECTS Correct lede to seven Republican candidates)
