The Republican candidates met last night in Florida for a Spanish-language debate on Univision — minus Tom Tancredo, who considered the debate to be an act of pandering. Of the seven who did show up, they made their pitches to the Latino community, both for their own campaigns and on behalf of the Republican Party, which has been losing a lot of Hispanic votes in light of the recent upsurge in GOP nativism.

"I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor nor seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country," said John McCain. "Hispanics are pro-small business, they are pro-life, they are pro-religion, they are pro-less regulation, pro-less spending, pro-military, they're serving in incredible numbers in Iraq as we speak today."

Late Update: The English transcript of the debate is available here.