Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

Lincoln Diaz-Balart has reached out to Latino voters on behalf of John McCain. Polls show he has his own problems to worry about.

A new poll commissioned by Roll Call shows Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla. 21) losing 46 to 48 percent against Democratic challenger Raul Martinez, in what’s shaping up to be an era-changing race.

Diaz-Balart is already receiving life-support from the national Republican party, which hopes to hold on to a seat that has been in Republican hands for 15 years. Presidential candidate John McCain appointed the Congressman to speak for him on issues involving Cuba. Diaz-Balart was given the role of attack dog during the Democratic National Convention last week, and he will speak for the Republicans in St. Paul this week. The Republicans have bought over $1 million in ads for this district, along with $900,000 in support of Lincoln’s younger brother Mario, who holds Florida’s 25th district and faces a strong challenge himself.

Diaz-Balart, a Cuban refugee, has long taken a hard-line stance against Cuba, and he supports continuing the embargo. Martinez, who was also born in Cuba, would continue the embargo, but would allow Americans to visit relatives in Cuba and send them remittances.

Many pundits attribute Martinez’s rise in the polls to younger voters and non-Cuban Latinos, who tend to be more Democratic than older Cubans. News 21 reporters Elizabeth Mendez-Berry and Don Duncan looked at the effects of this demographic shift in depth earlier this summer.