Mallory reaches out to 'Cincinnatianos'

Democratic mayoral candidate Mark L. Mallory boasts that he is the first campaign to offer parts of his web site in Spanish.

It's hard to tell how many voters Mallory might reach with this strategy. According to U.S. Census Bureau (which has historically undercounted immigrant populations), there were 2,136 native Spanish-speaking people in Cincinnati who did not speak English "very well" in 2000. Two-thirds of Cincinnati's foreign-born population are not citizens and cannot vote. And even fewer of them are likely to have Internet access.

But Mallory said the web site is symbolic of his efforts to Hispanics in an effort to become "mayor of all Cincinnati."

The Mallory campaign also may have coined a new word for Spanish-speaking Cincinnatians: "Cincinnatianos," the web site calls them.

(Mallory campaign photo)