Never before has a Romance language been such a prominent part of a Republican convention. So many US Spanish-language media outlets are chronicling the event - at least 20 - that the presidential campaign of Mr George W. Bush has brought in a bilingual spin doctor.
Convention organisers estimate that fewer than 10 outlets covered the 1996 Republican convention. Just one of the new outlets, the Website Terra.com, is drawing four million hits a day, and the two top Spanish-language television networks are watched by tens of millions of Latinos.
"It's impossible for me to do all the interviews," said Ms Sonia Colin Martinez. A Mexican immigrant, Ms Martinez occupies a brand new place in Mr Bush's presidential campaign, serving as its bilingual public relations spokeswoman.
Her position reflects more than the Republican Party's expanded outreach to Latinos, who in the past have tended to vote Democratic. It also is a response to increased demand from the evergrowing world of Spanish-language media outlets in the United States. Ms Martinez has had to assemble a team of 33 bilingual "press surrogates" to handle all her interview requests.
"Hispanics don't have the political power yet, but in terms of artistic and economic and media power, we are tremendous," said Jorge Ramos, news anchor for the Univision network.
The convention "is in English, and it's best for our audience to see it summarised in Spanish," said Mr Joe Peyronnin, executive vice president of Telemundo News, the second-largest Spanish-language TV network.
Telemundo brought a 15-strong team and convention organisers have stacked the schedule with Latino or Spanish "hooks" designed to lure the Spanish-language media.
The surest sign that Spanish speakers have arrived at a new level of America's political consciousness is that the first allSpanish convention speech was delivered yesterday by a California delegate and state Assemblyman, Mr Abel Maldonado.