Did McCain's Triumph Scuttle Dems Plans in West?

If there is one issue that looked to be political divisive and a real divider between the Republican and Democratic parties, it was probably going to be immigration.

Was going to be ... suddenly immigration doesn't look like such a burning issue in the 2008 election (not that it won't be important). But when all three remaining major candidates favor a more progressive approach to the topic - well, that's when you have anti-immigration groups advocating for Lou Dobbs to run for president, as was noted in an earlier blog item.

This is particularly true of Sen. John McCain, whose support of President Bush's failed immigration plan almost cost him the Republican nomination (which looks more and more his with every passing day). And that turns out to be a particular problem for the Democrats, according to the Washington Post, who had envisioned a more anti-immigration candidate like former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney being the GOP standard bearer which would have put western states like Nevada and Arizona more into play.

Suddenly Hispanics are not as angry about the immigration issue and Democrats from Hispanic districts are saying that Clinton and Obama need to stress economic issues, education and health care before bringing up immigration.

"He's definitely showed us that he's [McCain] persistent," Grace Lopez Ramirez, director of the Mi Familia Vota campaign in Colorado acknowledged. "This is dear to his heart, and he believes in it. Why else would he be taking so many hits from his own party?"

But then again Democrats point to the fact that McCain has backed away from his support for immigration reform, recently telling conservatives in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans that he "gets it." And they say that while McCain may be the GOP nominee, he will head a ticketed filled with anti-immigration candidates that can be targeted.

2:57 PM ET | 02-20-2008 | permalink