Poll after poll shows President Obama maintaining a wide lead over Mitt Romney among Hispanic voters. The GOP will use its three-day convention in Tampa to try to nudge those numbers slightly closer to parity, partly by showcasing rising Hispanic Republican stars such as Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Mitt Romney has no chance of winning this demographic outright in November, but given the nip-and-tuck nature of this election, even a modest erosion of Obama's Latino support could prove decisive. To that end, Romney has cut a new television ad that explicitly targets Hispanics. The candidate addresses the camera directly, hitting on high unemployment and rampant foreclosures, while pledging to turn the economy around:
The national unemployment rate among Hispanics is two full percentage points higher than the national average, at 10.3 percent.