In Oregon, the 2006 election cycle saw candidates focus on immigration as a wedge issue, with mixed results.  In a recent Statesman Journal story from the Oregon campaign trail, other topics are leading the conversation in 2008:

"While there was a lot of noise in the last election on [immigration], particularly as it related to Republican candidates, the reality is that when push came to shove, it didn't, frankly, seem to have that much bite at the ballot box," said Tim Hibbitts, a pollster with Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, a polling firm in Portland [Oregon].

Readers will remember that the 2006 elections saw us on the lead-up to the immigration battle on the hill, when the changing of hands in Congress set the tone for the McCain/Kennedy comprehensive reform bill the following summer.  It was the apparent lack of interest in the issue on behalf of voters in places like Oregon that convinced national politicians that voters wanted something different.  Not that the issue wasn’t important, it just didn’t seem to hurt or help candidates all that much:

Hibbitts said he disagrees with the notion that voters punished candidates who took a punitive stance on illegal immigration during the 2006 campaigns.  "Candidates thought immigration was going to be more salient at the ballot box, and it wasn't," he said, "so politicians have moved on to other issues they think will resonate with voters."

Given recent polling conducted by American Solutions, it is possible that the candidates simply had the wrong message (or even competing messages) for voters on the issue.

When the American People are asked their views on immigration, they speak with the clarity of an 80% tri-partisan majority:  Use English as the official language of government, enforce our laws, control who has access to our country, and actively promote assimilation of legal immigrants into our culture by educating them in English and American history.

When stated so gracefully, issues like these are easy to understand and contrast with the usual political rhetoric.  Americans have no distaste for immigrants, and they understand the plight of employers and politicians, but they recognize that there is a problem and simply want results.    

What do you think?

Newt's newsletter this week discusses NY Governor Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to people here illegally.

You've probably heard of New York Democratic Gov. Elliot Spitzer's misguided plan to issue driver's licenses to immigrants in this country illegally.

What you might not have heard is that the federal government is now on board with the insanity in the Empire State.

The Associated Press is reporting that this weekend the federal government "cut a deal" with Gov. Spitzer to allow the creation of a three-tiered license system in New York -- with licenses going to illegal immigrants.

You can read the entire newsletter here. The section on the driver's licence plan is about halfway down.  

Douglas MacKinnon writes on the illegal immigration drama in Prince William County outside of D.C. in his column "Illegal Aliens Declare War on the United States, Part II."  As Congress proved itself incapable of enforcing the law, some localities such as this one have decided that the only way to curb the problem of illegal immigration is to attempt to do it themselves:

"When we last left it, Prince William County in Virginia was trying to defend itself and its legal inhabitants against the massive influx of illegal aliens pouring into the county. A migration that is putting a tremendous strain on the infrastructure of the county while substantially raising the crime rate.

Toward that end, the county logically decided that the best way to combat this invasion by illegal aliens was to simply enforce the laws. Mistake. At least as far as the illegal aliens, their left-wing lawyers, and the left-leaning Washington Post are concerned. The illegal aliens and their lawyers, with a huge public relations assist from the Washington Post, basically decided to declare war on the county in response."

After Congress has failed the American people for years by not securing our borders, and the tragic execution of three students in Newark by an illegal immigrant who was released after being charged with sexual assault of a child, it's not surprising that localities feel that they are left with no choices but to try to tackle the issue themselves.

Find the whole piece here.
Read Part I of his column here.