News Release

As the attention of the United States' growing Hispanic population turns to the upcoming general election, a leading expert on Hispanic voters and the ways candidates, parties and interest groups communicate with them is available for interview to discuss the battle for the Hispanic vote.

Adam J. Segal, director of the Hispanic Voter Project at The Johns Hopkins University, dubbed Feb. 3, 2004, "Hispanic Tuesday" because of the large Hispanic populations of Arizona and New Mexico, two general election battleground states that participated earlier than ever before in the Democratic primary calendar. Segal has released a new report detailing Spanish-language political TV ad spending, which he says reached a record-high in the early primary season. His research has tracked the growing amount of spending by Democrats and Republicans on Spanish- language television advertising, from the $3 million spent during the 2000 presidential race to the $16 million spent during the 2002 midterm elections.

Since establishing the Hispanic Voter Project www.jhu.edu/advanced/government/hvp Segal has received national media attention, including stories on CNN, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and others. Segal has appeared on MSNBC, NBC News, CNN's "Inside Politics" and Azteca America, among others.

Segal is a faculty lecturer in ethnic marketing and political communication at Johns Hopkins' Washington Center. He can be reached during the day at (202) 265-3000 or on his cell phone at (202) 422-4673.