Mitt Romney released a new television ad Wednesday targeting Latino voters and knocking the Obama administration over its economic record.
The ad opens with video of the president declaring, "Yes, we can," in Spanish, with onscreen text then responding back, "Can we?"
As a montage of worried-looking Hispanic voters plays, onscreen text displays unfavorable statistics about the economy. Among the claims: more than 10 percent Hispanic unemployment and more than 2 million American Hispanics in poverty.
"Can we allow for Democrats to continue fooling us?" a narrator says. "When Obama and his Democrat allies tell us, 'Yes, we can,' we've got to tell them we no longer can!"
The Obama campaign fired back Wednesday morning, accusing the Romney campaign of misleading Hispanic voters in the ad.
"It’s no wonder the latest ad from the Romney-Ryan camp tries to mislead Hispanic voters – after all their plan would disproportionately hurt Hispanic families," said Gabriela Domenzain, National Director of Hispanic Media for the Obama campaign, in a statement. "Romney and Ryan would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, slash education programs from Head Start to college aid, and would be the most extreme Republican ticket on immigration in modern history."
President Obama has been dominating Romney among Hispanic voters, with a Latino Decisions survey last month showing seven in 10 Hispanic voters siding with the Democratic ticket, good for a 48-point lead. Romney will need to bridge that gap to remain competitive in key swing states like Florida and Colorado.
But Democrats are looking to run up their lead. Last week, Democrats announced that San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro would be the first Latino keynote speaker at the Democratic convention, while Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is leading the convention.
