Immigration groups mount ad buy to counter Angle

Three immigration reform groups pooled funds to take out a "saturation level ad buy" on Spanish language radio in Nevada this week to counter a controversial TV ad being run by Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, said the commercials would run through Election Day at a cost of "deep into five figures."

"Millions of dollars have been spent on commercials that attack us and make us out to be criminals, insinuating that we don’t deserve to be in this country," the radio spot says, according to a translation provided by the groups.

"Don’t let them fool you," the ad says. They know that the Latino vote could be decisive in Nevada and they want to intimidate you so you don’t vote.

"This Election Day, show the power of your voice to those who would silence it. Vote for your family. Vote for your community. Vote on November 2nd."

Sharry said the ads would not be on the air but for Angle's strike against Latinos in her latest attack ad on Democrat Sen. Harry Reid. The spots also seek to counter an earlier TV ad -- since pulled by Univision -- that urges Latinos not to vote.

The Angle commercial has garnered national attention for its provocative images depicting Hispanics as young thugs and whites as young sandy-haired schoolchildren and distressed family members.

Sharry said the Angle commercial will be historic and not in a good way.

"This is the ugliest race-baiting ad we have seen in this country since Willie Horton," Sharry said. "Whether (Angle) wins or loses it will be remembered as one of the most radical efforts to exploit racial divisions in order to win."

Willie Horton was a black convict in Massachusetts who committed rape after being allowed a weekend furlough in a program that had been supported by Gov. Michael Dukakis. An ad during the 1988 presidential campaign produced by a Republican-affiliated political action committee was damaging to Dukakis, the Democrats' nominee.

The commercial time in Nevada was purchased by America's Voice, Campaign for Community Change and Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign.