Kerry ads target blacks, Hispanics

BOSTON — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is launching $3 million worth of campaign ads targeting Hispanics and blacks this week as he tries to shore up the minority vote that is critical in his quest for the White House.

As polls continue to show a competitive presidential race, both parties are determined to sway Hispanics, the fastest-growing minority whose votes will be crucial in battleground states in which the margin was razor-thin in 2000. Democrats, who handily won the black vote four years ago, are seeking to avoid any erosion in support.

President Bush began a radio campaign on Monday costing more than $1 million in 18 states. The 60-second ad, broadcast in English and Spanish, criticizes Kerry for missing more than two-thirds of votes in the Senate during his presidential campaign.

Blacks and Hispanics lean Democratic, but Kerry is not taking them for granted after complaints that he doesn't have enough minorities on his staff or natural appeal in their communities like the last Democratic president — Bill Clinton.

As he picked up the endorsement of minority elected officials in Massachusetts on Monday, Kerry said his campaign stands for the "values of helping to open the doors of opportunity." The four-term Massachusetts senator used the forum to criticize Bush for snubbing a meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which Kerry will attend Thursday.

"Friends, I will be a president who meets with the leadership of the civil rights congress, who meets with the NAACP," Kerry said. Kerry spokesman David Wade said Kerry was referring to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

As he has done in previous years of his presidency, Bush has declined to address the NAACP this year.

Kerry announced that he is spending $1 million on Spanish-language ads, and The Associated Press has learned that on Wednesday he plans to unveil a $2 million ad campaign on radio stations, newspapers and television stations popular with blacks.

He also plans to announce that he's hired Bill Lynch as deputy campaign manager, said four Democratic officials. Lynch is black and served as the former deputy mayor of New York City, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee and president of his own consulting firm.