CAMPAIGN'S NEW PUSH AIMS AT HISPANIC VOTES

Diana Marrero Miami Bureau

Raul Martinez, king of Hialeah politics, has long toughed it out as a rare but powerful Cuban-American Democrat in South Florida.

Now the mayor of Miami-Dade County's second-largest city says he is no longer alone.

As polls show support for presidential hopeful John Kerry growing among Cuban-American voters, Martinez wants to ensure the Democratic Party continues to chip away at the Republicans' stronghold on that mighty voting bloc.

"It's very hard to be a lonely voice," said Martinez, who has emerged as the public face of Cuban-American Democrats in South Florida just months before the presidential election. "But more and more Hispanics, more and more Cubans are coming out. This could be our Quinces party."

Martinez, who has been mayor of Hialeah since 1981, is one of several influential Hispanic politicos featured in a series of new national television ads touting a Democratic message in English and Spanish. They aim to win over the growing number of Hispanic voters, who make up 9 percent of the electorate nationwide.

On Tuesday, Martinez addressed fellow Democrats at Cafe Versailles in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood to kick off the official launch of Democratas Unidos, a project by the New Democrat Network to lure Hispanic voters in South Florida.

Organizers of the $5 million campaign hope to convince Hispanics in the Miami area that Democrats have more to offer them than the Republican Party.

Norman Diaz, a Democrat since he registered to vote in 1960, said Martinez is the right person to deliver that message.

"He's a Democrat's Democrat," said Diaz, who has known Martinez since the mayor was a boy. "Being a Democratic mayor in Hialeah says a lot about him."

But some question whether Martinez, who has never lost an election, has sufficient clout outside of the predominantly Cuban city he serves to deliver enough votes to make a difference in a county where President Bush enjoys strong Cuban-American support.

Local Republicans prefer to focus on their opposition to Kerry. But they hint that Martinez, who was convicted in 1991 on federal extortion and racketeering charges but successfully appealed, may not be the best spokesman for the Democrats.

"The problem Kerry has is he's having a hard time finding strong advocates for his position in my community because his record on Cuba speaks for itself," said U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami.

Maria Teresa Cardona, vice president for the New Democrat Network, said Martinez's past is just that.

"I can't think of a better person to be the messenger of the Democratic Party in South Florida," said Cardona, who calls Martinez an ambitious and passionate leader.

Rudy Fernandez, regional political director for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Republicans are confident about the support they have in the Cuban-American community.

"We're not taking anything for granted," said Fernandez, who dismisses a recent poll commissioned by the New Democrat Network that says Kerry leads Bush among Cuban-Americans born in the United States and those who arrived in the country after 1980. "We're campaigning very aggressively in the state."

Martinez's involvement on behalf of Kerry contrasts with the apparent inaction of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. Some Democrats accuse Penelas of skipping town during the crucial days before the last presidential election, when the mayor was expected to campaign for Vice President Al Gore.

Once a dedicated fund-raiser for Gore, Penelas' relationship with the former vice president became strained after Elian Gonzalez, then 5, was rescued at sea in 1999. Many Republicans in Miami, the heart of Penelas' political base, were angry with the Clinton administration for sending federal agents to seize Elian from his Miami relatives' home. The boy returned to Cuba with his father.

U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch of Fort Lauderdale, who is running against Penelas in the race to succeed Sen. Bob Graham, has hammered Penelas for failing to appear at a key Gore rally aimed at boosting Hispanic voter turnout only weeks before the 2000 election.

Later that day, Penelas and his wife began a 12-day excursion to Spain during the Gore campaign's final Florida stretch.

Although Penelas insists he supported Gore as well as he could four years ago, many Democrats doubt that.

Unlike Penelas, Martinez is committed to helping deliver votes in Miami-Dade County, said Fort Lauderdale lawyer Mitchell Berger, a senior adviser to the Gore campaign.

"Can Raul Martinez help get out the vote in Denver?" Berger asks. "No. In Dade County, he can help deliver votes, but especially in Hialeah."