Monday, March 09, 2009
Can Ken Buck Really Put Immigration Back on the GOP Radar?

With Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck likely to enter the 2010 U.S. Senate race, could illegal immigration really resurface as a hot issue during next year’s campaign?

As district attorney for Weld County, where clashes over immigration have won national attention, Buck received a lot of publicity for his strong opposing stance, including from The New York Times and PBS.

He most recently made headlines as a defendant in a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which alleges that Buck and Weld County Sheriff John Cooke violated privacy laws in searching and keeping thousands of people’s tax records in an effort to arrest undocumented immigrants for identity theft.

Such a hard stance against illegal immigration would likely help Buck among voters in a Republican primary. But many Republicans are wary about how it would play in the general election–especially among Latino voters, who have been a primary, but elusive, target of Republican wooing.

There are conflicting reports about whether Buck has decided to run or not. The local newspaper in the small northeast Colorado town of Holyoke reported last week that Buck declared himself a U.S. Senate candidate at the Phillips County Republicans’ Lincoln Day soup, salad, and pie social. And several Republicans say Buck’s candidacy is a sure thing.


Buck would only tell me that he’s “out listening right nowâ€