“GIGANTIC” VOTE
October 26, 2004 

            Hispanics are going to decide the next United States presidential election.  There is no denying it now. In an election as close as this one—with the country politically divided and polarized by the war in Iraq—ballotting by  some eight million Hispanic voters will be crucial.  Both parties know it. President George W. Bush knows it. Democratic candidate John Kerry knows it. Which is why both agreed to be interviewed by Don Francisco.

            By whom? Yes, Mario Kreutzberger, better known as Don Francisco, host of the “Sábado Gigante” [Gigantic Saturday] variety show—the longest-running program in television history worldwide. There are probably a lot of Americans who do not know who Don Francisco is nor have they ever seen “Sabado Gigante,” despite its being featured in the The Guiness Book of World Records. But it would be hard to find a Hispanic person here in the United States or a Latin American who does not know who Don Francisco is or who has not seen the program, first broadcast in 1962 -- 100 million people in 42 countries tune in every Saturday. 

            “It is an international phenomenon,” Marcelo Amunategui, executive producer of “Sabado Gigante,” assured me. “Politicians have to resort to entertainment programs to get their message across. And it does not surprise me that Bush and Kerry have agreed to do the interview:  They know that the Hispanic vote may have great relevance come voting day.”

            No other Spanish-language program can match its reach and influence.  “Sábado Gigante” in an entertainment program allows people to let their hair down, and there is meaning in that,” Mario Kreutzberger told me, who was composed and relaxing in his office at the Univision station in Miami. “In addition to outlining their ideas, both candidates, Bush and Kerry, revealed their personalities, talking about love, music, God, their wives.  That’s important. And they know they will be treated fairly, professionally and even-handedly.” 

            What Bush and Kerry did is nothing new. In 2000, Bush himself and Vice-President Al Gore also spoke with Don Francisco.  Inevitably, interviewing presidential candidates on “Sábado Gigante”  has become a political rite in the United States. And in such a close election, this 62-year-old Chilean just may hold the key to the White House.  In other words, neither Bush nor Kerry could say no to Don Francisco.  Don Francisco spoke with Kerry in Philadelphia on Tuesday, October 19^th.  Two days later, on Thursday, October 21^st, Don Francisco was in Washington interviewing the President.  But the White House did one better by granting two more interviews that same day, with Hispanic journalists, Enrique Gratas of Univision and Pedro Sevcec of Telemundo.  The media impact was instantaneous -- Bush’s comments were the lead news stories on both television stations.

            In an attempt to counteract the impact of these three interviews, the Kerry campaign reacted by criticizing the White House for granting only six minutes for each one of them. “If the Hispanic community does not deserve more than six minutes of the President’s time, George Bush does not deserve four more years in the White House,” said Hispanic Media Director Fabiola Rodríguez in a communiqué entitled “George Bush’s Six Minutes of Fame.” “Throughout this presidential campaign, John Kerry has granted more than 20 interviews to Hispanic radio, television and newspapers, including 20-minute interviews with Univision, Telemundo and the popular show‘Sábado Gigante’.”

            Frankly, neither six minutes nor 20 minutes are enough. The interviews that Bush and Kerry have given on the English-language networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and FoxNews), generally were more in-depth and definitely more frequent. Bush’s three interviews granted to the Spanish-language media were the first he has given this year.  And even the 20 interviews Kerry has given to the Spanish-language press during his campaign do not come close to the nearly 100 that Bush gave when he was a candidate in 2000.

            The truth is, a lot more time is necessary for discussing the enormous problems the Latino community is facing.  This is the big picture:  Over nine million Hispanics live in poverty; over 13 million have no medical insurance; the average income for a Hispanic family has gone down by more than $2,500 over the last three years; proportionally, more Hispanics are unemployed than Anglo-Saxons; twelve percent of all soldiers who have died in the Irak war were Hispanic; at least eight million undocumented immigrants, most of them Latinos, pay taxes but live in fear of deportation; not a single senator or Supreme Court Justice is Hispanic; one out of every three Hispanic students fails to complete high school… How could all this be covered in six minutes? How could all this be covered in 20 minutes?

            Nevertheless, there is great significance in the fact that once both candidates realized they need the Hipanic vote in order to gain the White House, they sought out Don Francisco. In addition to all the contests, the singing, and the humor, “Sábado Gigante” carries political weight. “My job is partly social work,” Mario told me before heading to make-up prior to the show. “And by presenting these interviews, I hope the public, and especially Hispanic voters, will say, “That guy on “Sábado Gigante” was looking out for me.”   

If the November second elections come down to a decision, as many believe they will, and by an extremely small margin, Don Francisco holds in his hand the key to the Gigantic Vote, which is no laughing matter.