Romney goes after Cuban vote in Florida with Spanish-language ad

Mitt Romney is going after the Cuban vote in Miami with a new Spanish-language television ad featuring praise from some prominent local supporters and his son Craig.

Cubans are a key voting bloc in Florida’s GOP primary, and Romney has locked in the support of many leaders in the community, unlike in 2008 when most backed John McCain. His strong fundraising has allowed him to start running ads in the state ahead of its Jan. 31 primary, while his rivals have had to focus exclusively on South Carolina, which votes 10 days earlier.

“The United States represents liberty, opportunity, where anything is possible,” Craig Romney says in textbook Spanish in the ad. “My father Mitt Romney believes in those American values because he has lived them and will fight to restore the greatness of our nation.”

The ad also features testimonials from GOP Florida Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart — both Cuban-American — as well as Diaz-Balart’s brother Lincoln, a former congressman. All three are well-known and well-liked in the region.

The ad closes with Romney himself saying in poorly accented Spanish that he approves the message.

Watch it here: