Michelle Obama appears for the first time this election cycle in a TV ad released by the campaign on Wednesday.
The ad is partially in Spanish and features a Spanish-language TV host. It will air in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, all key swing states with a high Latino population. President Obama is visiting all five states, plus Iowa, in the next two days.
Obama's campaign is shoring up his support among Latino voters, building on what is already
a double-digit lead for the president against Mitt Romney.
But the campaign wants to make sure those supporters actually come out to vote, and with less than two weeks before Election Day, the candidate is making his closing argument to motivate Latino voters to head to the polls.
Obama this week said he would tackle immigration reform in his second term.
"Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community," Obama
told the
Des Moines Register in an interview published Wednesday.
In the new TV ad, titled “El Voto Es Crítico,” the first lady sits on a couch with Cristina Saralegui, speaking in English with Spanish subtitles.
Saralegui is the host of Spanish language talk show "Cristina" and Sirius radio show "Cristina Between Friends." She has endorsed President Obama and appears in other Obama campaign videos. She also spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
"Why is it so important for Latinos to vote in this election?" Saralegui asks in Spanish.
"So much is at stake," Michelle Obama tells Saralegui. "Comprehensive immigration reform, making sure that healthcare is not repealed, education -- making sure that every young person in this country has access to good schools -- I could go on and on and on. But that is why the vote is critical."
The campaign simultaneously
released a radio ad using a Spanish dub of the first lady's quote.
