Why isn't immigration a campaign issue in Texas?

[proud2BlibKansan]

By Dave Montgomery | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008

WASHINGTON — With the nation’s second largest population of illegal immigrants behind California , and 1,200-mile long border with Mexico , Texas seemed tailor-made for a bruising confrontation on immigration in advance of the state’s March 4 presidential primaries.

But after more than 40 earlier primaries and caucuses, the issue that once threatened to roil the 2008 presidential race has seemingly lost much of its intensity. The three candidates who now dominate the race share similar ideas on how to fix the nation’s tattered immigration system.

As colleagues in the U.S. Senate, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican John McCain supported bipartisan efforts to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants, the most controversial ingredient in failed immigration legislation.

Their past record on immigration, coupled with their campaign pledges, point to a continuation of President Bush's efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, regardless of which candidate ultimately wins.

more . . . http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/28601.html

[Robbien]

1. Immigration is basically a GOPer hot button issue

And the far right GOPers who want to send all the immigrants back south of the border just lost the issue when they decided to back McCain.

Case closed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. And some DUers want the same thing

[endarkenment]

2. Huge hispanic community with strong cross border ties.

Kind of doesn't play well.

[alarimer]

4. Because it isn't that big of a deal.

And a lot of the immigration talk is fear-mongering, which might play well in white-bread areas of the country but not here so much. We all know immigrants, legal and otherwise, and there is a lot of cross-border traffic that goes on. Many families live on both sides and the border to them has always been a somewhat imaginary line. Now I am not saying there are not problems with unfettered immigration; there are. But I just do not think it is as big a deal as Iraq, as the economy or the environment.