Repairing the damage: As Republican National Committee co-chairman, Mel Martinez is taking a two-pronged approach to repairing the GOP's relationship with Hispanics, using a combination of high-visibility public appearances and a moderate approach to immigration reform. [Photo: Katherine Lambert]

The early years of the new century gave Republicans reason to be hopeful that their courtship of Hispanic voters was working. In presidential races, for example, the GOP's share of Hispanic voters increased from the 35% who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 to the 44% Bush got in 2004.

But by the spring of 2006, Sen. Mel Martinez had begun warning his GOP colleagues that Republicans were alienating Hispanic voters -- particularly with their build-a-fence approach to immigration issues. His predictions played out in the 2006 elections, when Hispanic residents voted 69% Democrat and 30% Republican, according to national exit polls.

In the process, the 2006 election seemed to confirm the conventional political wisdom that views Hispanic voters -- 13.3% of the electorate in Florida and 8.6% nationally -- as important swing voters. Even Florida's Hispanic voters, traditionally viewed as Republican-leaning, were in play in 2006, with Charlie Crist and Jim Davis splitting the Hispanic vote. Little Havana, a Cuban-American corner of Miami generally considered a Republican enclave, elected a Democrat to represent it in the Florida Legislature, Miami Beach Commissioner Luis Garcia.

Listen to a narrated biography of Mel Martinez here.

Despite his spring forecast to party leaders, Martinez says he was caught off guard when President Bush called him six days after the election and asked him to chair the Republican National Committee. Bush told Martinez that Mike Duncan, a Kentuckian who was the RNC's general counsel, would serve as co-chairman and run the committee. Martinez's job would be to spearhead the party's outreach efforts, specifically to court Hispanic voters for the '08 election.

This time, however, Martinez, 60, faces a tougher challenge. The GOP lost both chambers of Congress to Democrats in the 2006 elections. Bush's approval ratings -- in the 30% range -- are at all-time lows. And not everybody in the GOP is enthralled with Martinez's selection. Several RNC members, in fact, attempted unsuccessfully to scuttle his nomination. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, GOP activist Bay Buchanan, sister to one-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, complained bitterly that "the party chairman ... should energize the base. We are demoralized. Why is the party divided as it is? Four reasons: George Bush, Bush's amnesty, Bush's war and Bush's spending. And, so, who does he put in -- head of the party to unite it? A Bush apologist. It doesn't make any sense."

Immigration focus

This isn't the first time Bush has turned to Martinez for help with Hispanics. Martinez's 2001-03 stint as HUD secretary saw him talking up the Bush administration's message on everything from the war on terrorism to his budget ["The President's Voice -- En Español," September 2002, FloridaTrend.com]. Then, in 2003, reportedly at the urging of Bush political adviser Karl Rove, Martinez left HUD to run for retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham's U.S. Senate seat, a move calculated to torpedo Katherine Harris and help Bush with his own re-election bid by energizing Hispanic voters.

Getting Personal Family: Wife of 36 years, Kitty; son Andrew, 13, going into the eighth grade, active in Boy Scouts, football, lacrosse, basketball; son John, 26, married to Helen Owens; daughter Lauren Shea, 29, lawyer, married to Jim Shea, mother of two, Kaley, 5, and Jack, 3. Hobbies: Biking, hunting, coaching Andrew's basketball team, fishing, snorkeling and boating. Staying Fit: Daily early morning workouts. Recommended Reading: "John Adams" by David McCullough; "Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag" by Armando Valladares Musical Tastes: '60s Motown, beach music, including Jimmy Buffett, and Gloria Estefan [Photo: Peter Cosgrove / AP]

Martinez says he accepted the RNC post out of a sense of duty. "It wasn't my idea, nor did I particularly want it, but the president asked me earnestly if I would consider doing it, and I found it difficult to say no to the president, any president."

Six months into the RNC job, Martinez is evolving a two-pronged strategy to repair the GOP's relationship with Latinos. Publicly, he's hitting the hustings with Bush and spearheading Latino-focused fund-raising events. A recent Cuban/Hispanic fund-raising event Martinez hosted in Los Angeles was such a success, an aide said, that the RNC had to move it to a larger venue.

Behind the scenes, Martinez is focusing on crafting an approach to immigration reform. "The stance of House Republicans in the previous Congress in favor of border security and against a path for legislating a work program has clearly hurt the Republican Party in its quest for the Hispanic vote. I believe that Sen. Martinez thinks that," says Rollins College political science professor Rick Foglesong, who's writing a biography of Martinez.

Along with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, and several Senate Republicans, including Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Arizona Sens. John Kyl and John McCain, Martinez has met regularly with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to try to work out a compromise on immigration reform that would establish a temporary worker program while also beefing up border security. Martinez envisions the establishment of a "Z visa" that would provide current undocumented workers the chance to seek citizenship. Future "guest workers," however, wouldn't have that option. Martinez says he is optimistic that Congress can have a bill ready for the president by the August recess.

Instantly animated whenever he speaks about immigration issues, Martinez has more than a partisan interest in the debate. Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, in 1946, he immigrated to the United States in 1962 through Operation Pedro Pan, an effort led by the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Miami to airlift children out of Cuba after Fidel Castro took over. Unlike many Pedro Pan children who lived in south Florida, often with relatives, Martinez lived with foster families in Orlando for four years until his parents and siblings were able to immigrate.

"As the only immigrant in the Senate, I felt like I had a special responsibility to get involved in the debate," Martinez says. "I've always been a great believer in the transforming nature of what an immigrant goes through in America -- to take someone from another land and mold them into what it is to be an American."

Campaigning in Florida, he says, also shaped his thinking on the issue. Citrus farmers in Polk County, vegetable growers in south Florida, members of the hotel and tourism industry and the construction trades all described how much they rely on immigrant labor. "They were insistent that we do something to ... keep a flow of workers coming to our country in a legal way."

Younger Years Martinez graduating from grammar school in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, (top photo) and at Camp St. John in north Florida (lying on the top bunk) - where he stayed temporarily after arriving in the U.S. [Photo: Peter Cosgrove / AP]

A game of risk

The president's man: President Bush first called Martinez into service in 2001 to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. [Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters]

Not everyone thinks Martinez's choice of immigration reform is the right strategy, worrying that it will simply draw attention to the rift in the party instead of energizing Hispanics. One of his most vocal critics, Iowa Congressman Steve King, even suggested that Martinez be required to "take an oath to refrain from a mention of the president's immigration plan any time he makes a public statement."

Martinez deflects the criticism. "Actually, among my colleagues I think there's been a lot of mutual understanding and respect on my position. It's a difficult issue. People might differ on the best way to approach it."

Martinez's biggest hurdle is probably Democrats, who are also engaged in their own push for Hispanic support. Democratic strategists believe they can capitalize on the current shift in the same way California Democrats did after then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson backed a ballot initiative in the mid-1990s that would have denied undocumented immigrants and their children public benefits, including a public education.

"Wilson's stance galvanized California's Latino population and made California irrevocably a blue state," Simon Rosenberg, a former Clinton strategist who runs the New Democrat Network, said during a post-election forum on Hispanic voters last fall. "If the same thing were to happen in the states with large Latino populations, we could turn the four Southwestern states, Texas and Florida into blue states."

In addition, in at least the short term, the war in Iraq may be a bigger issue for Hispanics than immigration. Democrat pollster Sergio Bendixen of Miami calls the war a "crucial issue" for Hispanic voters -- along with others like education and healthcare. And Martinez is on the unpopular side of that issue, backing the president's plan for a "surge" in troops. Martinez told reporters during a March visit to the James A. Haley Veteran's Hospital in Tampa that a rapid withdrawal would be "disastrous."

Latino leaders, while excited about Martinez's selection to the RNC, are taking a wait-and-see approach. "For us, it's not about popularity; it's about leadership and whether the Republican Party will make the investment to actually talk to Latinos. To get votes or not, that will depend upon what their program looks like -- the outreach and the dialogue that goes on," says Efrain Escobedo, director of voter engagement for the National Association for Latino Elected Officials.

» No. 1 Issue Survey data show a link between Latino voting patterns and the anti-immigrant rhetoric in the 109th Congress: 8% of Latino voters said immigration policy is the No. 1 issue that decided their vote for Congress or for Senate, according to the non-profit, Latino-oriented research think tank William C. Velasquez Institute. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake's research, meanwhile, indicated that 30% of Latino voters either marched in immigration protests in 2006 or knew someone who did.

Legislative issues aside, Washington insiders say that Democrats are delighted in Martinez's selection as RNC chairman because they think they can use the "culture of corruption" theme for another two years. The party already is hammering Martinez over his ties to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff and imprisoned Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who were caught up in trading political favors for fancy trips and lavish gifts. Ney admitted in his 2006 guilty plea that he arranged a meeting with Martinez, then-HUD secretary, in January 2003 to "(advance) the interests of Abramoff's Native American Tribal clients." The Miami Herald reported that one of Abramoff's clients, the Saginaw Chippewas, received $4 million from HUD between 2000 and 2004. The paper also reported that while Martinez has since returned a $2,500 campaign contribution from Ney, he has kept the $250,000 in donations that flowed from a 2004 fund-raiser co-hosted by Abramoff.

Martinez's own campaign finance problems also provide ammo for Democrats. A Federal Election Commission audit of Martinez's 2004 campaign finance reports founded significant errors and irregularities, including $313,235 worth of contributions that appeared to exceed the legal contribution limits. Martinez was also the recipient of $11,000 in illegal campaign contributions that Tampa-based engineering firm PBS&J funneled through straw men in an illegal reimbursement scheme.

Close to the Vest As RNC chairman, Martinez must avoid showing preference for one or another of the GOP candidates for the party's presidential nomination. He deflects the question of who he thinks the next president will be with a joke, mentioning only Barack Obama by name. "We don't agree politically on much, but I consider him a friend. I'm very excited he's doing what he's doing," Martinez says with a grin. Jokes aside, Martinez is close to Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain. The two worked closely on an immigration reform last year, and they share a personal distaste for the Castro regime. "I still remember my Cuban interrogator," McCain told four Cuban-American Vietnam War veterans who visited Martinez's office recently. The presidential candidate was referring to a Cuban agent who visited the North Vietnamese prison camp in Hanoi, where McCain was a prisoner of war. [Photo: Alex Wong / Getty]

Top aides to Martinez say the senator is working closely with the FEC to correct the matter.

Given all the challenges, Martinez's friends wonder if taking the RNC job was such a good idea. What difficulties might the role create if the administration's policies are at odds with his votes in the Senate? Will the new job rob him of important time with friends and family? Will the RNC duties detract from service to his home state and its voters, who have their own issues? Political experts say the position could come back to bite him if he ends up needing Democratic crossover votes to win re-election in 2010. "I think it will be a challenge for him to serve the party and serve this bipartisan state as well," says Foglesong.

Martinez says he's aware that his primary job is "being the senator from Florida." He likens the RNC duties to "the days when I was a lawyer and I would be focused on my professional life, but I still took on a volunteer job in the chamber or with a charity or whatever."

He also points out that the RNC chairmanship enhances his clout in Washington. "I am now in the leadership circles of the Senate, which otherwise I wouldn't have been, and that gives you an extra voice and ability to shape the direction of what the Republican Caucus of the Senate will do and I think a voice even within members of the other party. It just enhances my visibility a bit in a way that I think is important."

John Sowinski, a GOP political consultant who worked on Martinez's campaign for Orange County chairman and his U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, says he believes the senator is keeping his balance. "I see him on CNN from Washington on Wednesday, and I see him at Mass on Sunday with (his wife) Kitty and his son, Andrew, in Orlando. He has stayed remarkably, remarkably grounded."