Wooing Latino Voters, Politicians Risk Blunders

Today’s political candidates are increasingly savvy in their attempts to targeting Spanish-speaking voters. But as attempts to court Latino voters have become increasingly commonplace, so have cultural blunders. A noteworthy example from a past election: When Gerald Ford was running in 1976, he bit into a tamale at a campaign stop without first removing the inedible corn husk. Whoops.
Jude Joffe-Block  is senior field correspondent for Fronteras, a multimedia collaboration focusing on the southwestern border between Mexico and the United States, led by KJZZ in Phoenix and KPBS  in San Diego. Ruben Navarette  is a nationally-syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group.