As the Democratic National Convention gets into full swing — along with its surrounding protests, including an “undocumented delegation” that rode the “UndocuBus” to Charlotte, N.C. to protest the current administration’s unprecedented deportation rates — here is a sampling of coverage from the ethnic media of last week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.

* The Jewish Daily Forward examined the GOP’s efforts to recruit Jewish women voters, 80 percent of whom voted for Obama in 2008, according to the nonpartisan The Solomon Project.

The supposed Republican “war on women” has put Jewish GOP women in the party in the crossfire: They are Republicans in a Jewish community that is largely Democratic, and social moderates in an increasingly conservative GOP.

Republican leaders gathered here for their national convention believe they have found a way to win over the hearts of Jewish women. Their solution? Talk about the economy or Israel or health care. Talk about everything except women’s rights.

“I don’t think we elect the president of the United States based on these social issues,” said Arlene Herson, an enthusiastic supporter of Mitt Romney from Boca Raton, Fla. “The economy is way more important than any social issue.”

* Over at Feet in 2 Worlds, Executive Producer John Rudolph caught up with Valeria Fernandez, a freelance journalist and filmmaker based in Phoenix, and Pilar Marrero, senior political writer for Los Angeles’ La Opinión, who were both at the Republican National Convention.

Going into the convention there was a lot of buzz about the strong anti-immigration language in the party platform, but according to Marrero, when she arrived in Tampa at the start of this week, the platform was nowhere to be found. What was leaked was so badly received that the full text was not released.

Marrero says the Romney campaign is trying to step back from the message of “self deportation” that it offered in the primaries. Romney is now talking about a proposal to add a temporary workers’ program, visas for families of green card holders and adjustments for undocumented immigrants who have served in the military. Marrero adds that Romney wants to position himself as having a more humane approach to immigration, but these measures aren’t really being advertised to non-Latino voters.

An podcast of Rudolph’s full interview is available at Feet in 2 Worlds.

* Also at Feet in 2 Worlds, writer Erwin de Leon questioned the GOP’s commitment to diversity, despite several non-white speakers.

Republicans need to understand that most of us can see through this manufactured and condescending visual. The rabid anti-immigrant rhetoric of the GOP presidential primaries is still steaming fresh in our minds. Rubio himself admitted to George Stephanopoulos that he agreed with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when he said “you can’t just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate.”

“Policies matter and, look, the Republican Party does have a challenge,” Rubio said.

* On a lighter note, Colorlines posted a caption contest for a photo of two Latinos holding a sign professing support for Mitt Romney at the Republican Convention. One commenter suggested the following caption:

Man: How long are they paying us to sit here?
Woman: All night, now keep smiling!

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