Thread: Arkansas - Immigration heats up as issue in Senate race

By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press
Updated 3:56 pm, Thursday, August 7, 2014

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican challenger Tom Cotton targeted each other's records on border security Thursday in competing television ads, signaling the importance of the immigration issue in a race that could help determine which party controls the chamber.

Pryor's campaign announced a new ad defending the two-term lawmaker's record on immigration and border security. The campaign said it spent six figures to begin airing the ad statewide Thursday, aimed at pushing back on a spot Cotton has been running trying to cast Pryor as weak on immigration.

The congressman has criticized Pryor for supporting an immigration reform bill that passed the Senate last year, equating it to amnesty. Pryor's 30-second spot unveiled Thursday features a quote from Republican Sen. John McCain, one of the authors of the immigration overhaul, saying the measure isn't amnesty.

"Mark Pryor voted the same way as John McCain and many other Republican senators," the narrator says in the ad.

Cotton had cited border security as one of his top concerns when he launched his bid to unseat Pryor a year ago and had written an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal criticizing the immigration reform bill last summer. But the issue had been overshadowed by Cotton and Republicans instead focusing primarily on criticizing Pryor's support for the health care law.

Cotton and Republicans are reviving the issue over the August recess, with attention focused on the border crisis involving an influx of young Central American immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally from Mexico. Cotton recently blamed the influx in part on the immigration reform measure.

"It's not surprising when you announce to the world that you're about to give amnesty to anyone inside the United States that people outside the United States start streaming across your border," Cotton told The Associated Press in an interview last week.

The measure approved by the Senate last year offers a 13-year path to citizenship to as many as 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully. It also sets out a series of requirements that must be achieved before anyone will be given permanent resident green card, including doubling the number of border agents and completing 700 miles of fencing along the border.

Pryor defended the measure Thursday during a talk to the Arkansas state Chamber of Commerce.

"It's border security first, and then all these requirements on the folks who are here illegally," Pryor told the group during a question-and-answer session.

Cotton's campaign spent six figures to run the ad, which began airing statewide over the weekend. It also criticizes Pryor for votes against building a border fence, a criticism that Pryor's campaign says ignores his votes for a border fence. Pryor's ad criticizes Cotton for supporting the Republican Study Committee budget, arguing its non-defense discretionary spending would threaten border security funding.

The spots are part of an increasingly expensive television ad war in the race, which is key to Republicans' effort to gain the six seats needed to win control of the Senate. The two candidates and outside groups involved in the race have already spent more than $18 million on the race, according to the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...ce-5675130.php

Americans seem to be no more stable in emotion or opinion about immigration and aliens than 20 years ago. Ten days ago it was the number one issue of political importance, this week down to third again, so very quickly. This was reflected in the Carr/Lamar race in TN this week, too.

The Dems, politicians and voters, seems to be the ones of continuous commitment to their goals. Without a party of committed opposition, especially voter opposition, a prospective victory is fading fast.

Published August 10, 2014
Fox News Latino


U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor speaks to members of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Pryor is seeking his third term in office and is being challenged by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, who represents Arkansas' 4th Congressional District. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – The ad war Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican Rep. Tom Cotton are waging over border security highlights just how much the GOP is counting on the immigration issue to boost their odds in the fight for an Arkansas Senate seat. It also shows how much Democrats are willing to engage on the issue.

The influx of thousands of young immigrants across the Mexican border and the fight in Washington over how to address it gives Cotton a chance to revive a topic he cited as one of his top concerns when he launched his bid to unseat Pryor a year ago. He's getting help from fellow Republicans in his home state, who are opening a multi-front push that includes visits to the border and raising the prospect of legislative hearings as they try to keep the issue in the forefront over the August recess.

Based on Arkansas' history, it's far from certain whether it's a strategy that will offer gains.

Immigration has offered mixed results for Arkansas politicians on both sides of the debate. Efforts at the state level to push for new restrictions by barring many state services to those in the country illegally have fizzled before the state Legislature. But so have repeated attempts to allow the state to charge in-state college tuition to the children of those here illegally.

The debate between Pryor and Cotton focuses primarily on the immigration overhaul measure approved by the Senate last year that most agree has no hope of ever being considered in the House. Cotton had spoken out against the measure before he launched his bid against Pryor, penning a column in the Wall Street Journal opposing the bill last summer, and he's regularly referred to it as amnesty.

The measure creates a pathway to citizenship over 13 years for millions of immigrants in the country unlawfully, but also sets out a series of requirements for securing the border that must be met first.

Cotton has continued focusing his criticism on Pryor's vote on that measure, with his latest television ad and comments suggesting the latest influx can be blamed in part on the immigration reform bill. Cotton said immigration is the top issue that comes up when he talks to voters around the state.

"It's not surprising when you announce to the world that you're about to give amnesty to anyone inside the United States that people outside the United States start streaming across your border," Cotton told The Associated Press before the ad began airing. "That was the utterly predictable consequence of that legislation along with the president's policies."

Pryor has pushed back against the ad, moving quickly to put up his own spot defending the immigration reform measure and featuring a quote from Republican Sen. John McCain — an author of the Senate-backed immigration bill — saying it's not intellectually honest to call the measure amnesty.

Pryor is defending the bill while he's also distancing himself from President Barack Obama's possible use of executive orders to address immigration.

"I'm not for government by executive order. (The president) needs to work with Congress, he needs to show some leadership, bring people together, get this done in a bipartisan way, find ways through this," Pryor told AP last week. "That's part of being president, lead the nation and lead to a solution."

While Pryor and Cotton wrangle over immigration, other GOP figures are also focusing on the issue. U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin and Sen. John Boozman have made separate trips to the U.S.-Mexico border, while state Sen. Bart Hester sent a letter to the governor asking for details about unaccompanied minors being placed in Arkansas. In the letter, Hester also hinted at the possibility of legislative hearings on the issue.

With Hispanics making up a small percentage of the state's voting age population, focusing on border security may offer less risks for Republicans in Arkansas than on a national level.

Advocates of immigration reform are still holding out hope that there can be a way to address the issue despite the political wrangling.

"I'm optimistic that people in Washington will wake up and acknowledge the need and potential impact on the economy," said Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce. "Even if it's just a little bit. Any progress would be welcomed at this point and is badly needed."

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/pol...still-unclear/