This week, both U.S. presidential candidates made appearances at the University of Miami and both laid out their political arguments and promises to a live audience.
But the story this time is how they got there.
Both appearances were part of Meet the Candidate forums held by Spanish language network Univision. The whole event might not have happened at all except for Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who also co-moderated the forums. Ramos was unsettled when the Commission on Presidential Debates announced their list of moderates for the four debates; there wasn't a single Hispanic moderator included.
Ramos told NPR's Tell Me More that he wrote a letter, bringing the issue to the commission's attention.
"The commission rejected our proposal to either include a Hispanic journalist or to have another debate about Hispanic issues”, said Ramos. “And at the end, if they didn't want to invite us to their party, we created our own party."
Ramos went on air and told his audience that if they felt this was unfair, they should let the candidates and parties know. Within a few hours, both candidates had agreed to the Meet the Candidates forums.
"About 22 million Latinos might be able to go to the polls”, said Ramos. “But even if 12 million go to the polls then they will decide who's going to be the next President of the United States. No one can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote. That's the new rule in American politics."
Mitt Romney's appearance on Univision was broadcast Wednesday night. President Obama's aired last night. Video of both Meet the Candidate Forums is available in Spanish at Univision.com.