Yellowdogtexan
11-07-2007, 08:17 PM
The gop has decided to make immigration a key issue in 2007 elections as a trial balloon for the 2008 elections. The gop may have to rethink this plan. http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmUwMTgyODZjYzQ2MTViNjQ3Mjc2NTI0ZjIyN2UxMjg=Not a great Election Day for Republicans yesterday. We can argue about how big illegal immigration will play in next year's elections nationwide, but based on yesterday, it seems clear the issue won't be a silver bullet for Republicans. See also
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/07/immigration-backfires-on-right-wing-in-virginia/“Democrats wrested control of the Senate from the Republicans” in yesterday’s Virginia legislative elections. The vote served as a repudiation of conservatives who ran on a hard-right agenda of cracking down on immigration. Kos writes the “demonization of scary brown people has been a flop.” Raising Kaine adds:Let this be a wake-up call to progressives everywhere — the immigration issue is nothing to be feared. Reasonable immigration reform that includes strong border security without turning our backs on those that already live among us is not only the right thing to do, it’s the politically smart thing to do as well.This plan really flopped in Virgina where the Democrats gained control of the state Senate. http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/content/index.php?p=2742Last week I posted that the results of the off-year elections in Loudoun County, VA would be a good indicator of the resonance of the issue of illegal immigration in closely contested races. The Loudoun County Republicans have suffered from some image problems recently due to a perception that they are too close to developers. Their strategy was to get voters to forget all that and focus on illegal immigration. As the Washington Post reported last week: “Loudoun’s Republicans were among the first this year to vow to drive illegal immigrants out of their community, a stance likely to pay off at the ballot box.”
So what happened? The Democrats took over the county board. I have not yet poured over the data, but the topline results are sufficient to understanding that illegal immigration did not resonate in Loudoun County on the scale Republicans had hoped it would.
Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, who will be the new Majority Leader of the Senate (the Dems took over), told the Post: “I did not think that immigration in and of itself would carry the day … The results are proving that, while immigration is a concern to people — and it should be — it is not returning the votes that they thought that it would.”
During an off-year election, we look to indicators that might help us understand what will be top-of-mind for voters next year. The obvious conclusion here is that illegal immigration is not the powerful wedge issue many conservatives believe and hope it is. Or, if it is, there is little evidence from the 2006 and 2007 campaigns that it benefits Republicans and conservatives at the ballot box.The politics of hate failed to work for the GOP but if we are lucky the gop will try this same trick in 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/07/immigration-backfires-on-right-wing-in-virginia/“Democrats wrested control of the Senate from the Republicans” in yesterday’s Virginia legislative elections. The vote served as a repudiation of conservatives who ran on a hard-right agenda of cracking down on immigration. Kos writes the “demonization of scary brown people has been a flop.” Raising Kaine adds:Let this be a wake-up call to progressives everywhere — the immigration issue is nothing to be feared. Reasonable immigration reform that includes strong border security without turning our backs on those that already live among us is not only the right thing to do, it’s the politically smart thing to do as well.This plan really flopped in Virgina where the Democrats gained control of the state Senate. http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/content/index.php?p=2742Last week I posted that the results of the off-year elections in Loudoun County, VA would be a good indicator of the resonance of the issue of illegal immigration in closely contested races. The Loudoun County Republicans have suffered from some image problems recently due to a perception that they are too close to developers. Their strategy was to get voters to forget all that and focus on illegal immigration. As the Washington Post reported last week: “Loudoun’s Republicans were among the first this year to vow to drive illegal immigrants out of their community, a stance likely to pay off at the ballot box.”
So what happened? The Democrats took over the county board. I have not yet poured over the data, but the topline results are sufficient to understanding that illegal immigration did not resonate in Loudoun County on the scale Republicans had hoped it would.
Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, who will be the new Majority Leader of the Senate (the Dems took over), told the Post: “I did not think that immigration in and of itself would carry the day … The results are proving that, while immigration is a concern to people — and it should be — it is not returning the votes that they thought that it would.”
During an off-year election, we look to indicators that might help us understand what will be top-of-mind for voters next year. The obvious conclusion here is that illegal immigration is not the powerful wedge issue many conservatives believe and hope it is. Or, if it is, there is little evidence from the 2006 and 2007 campaigns that it benefits Republicans and conservatives at the ballot box.The politics of hate failed to work for the GOP but if we are lucky the gop will try this same trick in 2008