BY FRANK DAVIES
fdavies@herald.com

ON THE AIR

In South Florida, the president's remarks in Spanish will air on these stations at 10:06 a.m. Saturday: WMNA-AM (1210), WCMQ-FM (92.3), WRMA-FM (106.7), WRAU-FM (106.3), WRLA-FM (107.9) and WQBA-AM (1140). WAQI-AM (710) will air a delayed broadcast at noon.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will deliver his weekly radio speech in Spanish as well as English on Saturday, a historic move that recognizes the political power of Hispanics and thrusts the president into the sensitive issue of language and government.

Radio Unica, based in Miami, will carry the three- to five-minute speech on its 54 Spanish-language stations on a holiday of great importance to Mexican Americans -- Cinco de Mayo. In South Florida and the Florida Keys, seven stations will carry Bush's talk in Spanish.

White House spokesmen Thursday would not reveal the subject of the speech.

Bush often used a few words of Spanish during his presidential campaign, as he did while running for governor of Texas. But he avoided full speeches and interviews in that language.

``He's not fluent, but he likes to make the effort,'' said Karen Hughes, counselor to the president. ``He doesn't get to practice as much as he did in Texas. It's a little bit of `Tex-Mex' Spanish.''

If Bush's pronunciation isn't perfect, his politics are right on target, according to GOP leaders and operatives who read the latest census numbers and saw the importance of the burgeoning Hispanic vote.

``This is a superb move, and it has substantial symbolic value,'' said Whit Ayres, an Atlanta-based Republican pollster. ``This shows he's trying to reach out to all Americans.''

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, said the president's use of Spanish will be taken as a sign of respect for Hispanic culture.

HISPANIC VOTES

``Hispanic clout is rising exponentially, and this shows the Republican Party is going after the Hispanic vote in the next election,'' Ros-Lehtinen said.

Joaquin Blaya, CEO of Radio Unica, said it was ``surprisingly easy'' to arrange the broadcast with the Bush White House. The Clinton White House passed on the idea of a simultaneous translation of Clinton's radio speeches.

``The impetus behind this [for Bush] is simple -- whoever picks up more Hispanic votes gets elected,'' Blaya said.

DEEDS, NOT WORDS

The president's venture into Spanish was greeted by skepticism from Hispanic Democrats who said Bush's deeds don't match his words, and a group that advocates ``English only'' by government said Bush's bilingualism was ``a disturbing sign.''

``Bush is well-intentioned, but this is a dangerous road to go down,'' said Jim Boulet, executive director of English First.

``It puts a White House imprimatur on a culture of mandatory multilingualism,'' he said.

English First is leading the charge against an executive order from President Bill Clinton in August that directed federal agencies to ensure that non-English speakers have equal access to federal services.

Agencies are now considering guidelines on what language services they will have to provide.

A White House spokesman said this week the administration has no plans to rescind the order -- despite growing GOP opposition to it in Congress.

So far, 51 House members, including four GOP committee chairmen, have signed on to a bill to repeal the Clinton order.

Bush's speech ``gets him into the whole language issue, but I don't think there's much downside,'' Ayres said. ``For Republicans, it's a plus.''

POLICIES CRITICIZED

Meanwhile, leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are sharply criticizing Bush policies and the administration budget.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes of El Paso, caucus chairman, will deliver the Democratic response Saturday after Bush. He complains that the Bush budget freezes spending for bilingual programs in schools and migrant education at a time when schools' immigrant populations are exploding.

``He says `Leave no child behind,' but he's leaving hundreds of thousands of children behind with this budget,'' Reyes said.

ON IMMIGRATION

Hispanic groups say they're closely watching Bush policies on immigration. An official with the League of United Latin American Citizens said the administration ``did the right thing'' this week by seeking to extend the deadline for undocumented aliens to apply for visas to stay in the country.

``But we're concerned that it was late -- they waited to say that after the [Monday] deadline passed,'' said Gabriela Lemus, director of policy for LULAC.

Lemus said she was ``thrilled'' to hear that Bush would give a speech in Spanish because ``it supports the importance of being multilingual.''

``I hope it's not just symbolic -- that there's something substantive behind the words,'' Lemus added.

Symbolic or substantive, Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates a Mexican battlefield victory over the French in 1862, is suddenly getting a lot of attention in Washington. It became an official celebration Thursday on Capitol Hill with top leaders of both parties.

Today the White House will host the first Cinco de Mayo fiesta on the South Lawn, with Mexican officials and entertainers ranging from Emilio Estefan to Don Francisco, host of Univision's Sabado Gigante.

Also expected is George P. Bush, son of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who campaigned heavily in Hispanic communities during the election.

Ron Hutcheson of The Herald's Washington Bureau contributed to this report.