GOP,Dems eye immigration ruling

Charles Babington

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – On the sur­face, a judge’s decision to block tough provisions of Arizona’s immigration law was a defeat for the state’s Republican governor and a win for the Democratic Obama administration. But nei­ther party is sure it will play out that way politically, either this fall or beyond.

Keeping the illegal-immigra­tion issue burning might help some Republican candidates, who need a fired-up conserva­tive base, campaign strategists in both parties said Thursday. And the federal ruling might let Republicans campaign for tougher immigration enforce­ment without embarrassing scenes of police officers demanding documents from U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent, a widely predicted fall­out of Arizona’s pending law.

But if the GOP appears too zealous, it runs a longer-term risk of alienating Hispanic vot­ers, one of the fastest-growing constituencies.

A handful of Republicans pounced on U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton’s decision Wednes­day to block provisions of the Arizona law. One of them would require officers to check a per­son’s immigration status while enforcing other laws if there’s a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally.

The Republican Governors Association issued a fundraising e-mail from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, asking for help in the ongoing fight to implement the law. And Colorado Senate hope­ful Jane Norton’s campaign con­ducted robocalls telling Republi­can voters of her support for the measure.

But beyond Arizona, where street demonstrations took place on Thursday, many politi­cians took a wait-and-see stance. In Washington, top Republican lawmakers and party officials made statements about jobs, energy, taxes, health care, campaign finance and passport fraud, but there was hardly a whisper about immi­gration.

Democrats were nearly as quiet, aside from the Congres­sional Hispanic Caucus calling for a comprehensive solution to the issue.

The people plotting campaign strategy say illegal immigration can be an emotional but unpre­dictable issue. Many Americans express concerns about unlaw­ful entries and the impact on wages and government resources. But they also talk about the power of deportation to break up families, and other matters.