ABSTRACT
The subtitle of the book The Latino Wave, by Jorge Ramos (2004), states How Hispanics will elect the next American president. Published before that year’s presidential election, Ramos-who during the last two decades has been the main anchor of Noticiero Univisión, the evening national news program of the leading Spanish-language television network in the United States-asserted that Latinos would be a deciding factor in the campaign that year. He also suggested that Latinos were a key to Bush’s successful 2000 presidential campaign. Starting in chapter one, titled “Making history: How Latinos decided the 2000 election,” and throughout his book, stemming primarily from interviews with Latino political leaders, scholars and field work, Ramos makes his case about the political impact of Latinos. He also points out, sometimes more implicitly than explicitly, that the media, particularly Spanish-language media, are an integral part of that process.
