To announce his recall campaign against Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez in September, Norman Braman turned to a drive-time show on Spanish-language radio. He was on the same airwaves again last week, thanking voters for trouncing Alvarez out of office.
Braman doesn’t speak the language. But over six months, he waged his wildly successful effort against Alvarez primarily on Spanish-language media, where news outlets seized the ratings moment and gave a voice to the anger of Hispanic voters who were once Alvarez’s political base.
The day-to-day coverage of the campaign, with Braman often taking calls from radio listeners, played a key role in helping the billionaire auto dealer portray himself as a man in close touch with voters — an image that later shielded him from attacks by Alvarez that Braman did not have enough standing in the community to force a recall.
By the time Alvarez and County Commissioner Natacha Seijas, who was also recalled Tuesday, put on their own media charm offensive a few weeks before the election, it was too little, too late. Full story here.
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