Published: June 9, 2010
Updated: 5:41 p.m.

Immigration could fade as issue in governor's race

By MARTIN WISCKOL
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Meg Whitman spent the last weeks of her primary campaign fending off attacks of being soft on illegal immigration. But her task now is the opposite: Assure Latino voters that she's not a tyrant on the issue.

"Latinos are really offended by the shrillness of the anti-illegal immigration message," said elections handicapper Allan Hoffenblum, former political director for the state GOP. "Poizner forced her farther into the issue than she really wanted to go."

That would be Steve Poizner, of course, whom Whitman trounced in Tuesday's Republican primary. But not before Poizner made illegal immigration the centerpiece of his campaign and caused Whitman to defend her own positions on the issue, to renew her call for securing the border, and to refute claims that she supported amnesty.

At the outset of her campaign last year, Whitman told the Register that the key to carrying a Democratic state was winning over Latinos, women and young voters. The base for that was her three central campaign planks – create jobs, reduce state spending and improve education.

Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at CSU Fullerton, is among those who say she needs to return to that message.

"She definitely needs to take a step back," he said.

Indeed, backers of Democratic nominee Jerry Brown have already begun trying to tar Whitman as anti-Latino.

"Demonizing immigrants might have brought her short-term victory but immigrants – particularly Latinos – are unlikely to reward this short-sighted gamesmanship in November," said Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Association.

Medina also targeted Whitman's campaign chairman, former Gov. Pete Wilson, a key backer of the Proposition 187 attempt to ban public services to illegal immigrants. The move helped get Wilson elected in 1984, but contributed to an exodus of Latinos from the party.

With Latinos now accounting for about 22 percent of all voters, it's an alienation many Republicans would prefer to leave in the past.

But while Whitman ended up talking about immigration more than planned, she managed to maintain a more moderate position than many fellow GOP candidates.

Unlike Poizner, she did not want to kick illegal immigrant kids out of school. And perhaps most importantly, she did not support the controversial new Arizona immigration law – which got the backing of Poizner and GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina.

"Whitman dodged what would have been the most damaging issue when she opposed the Arizona law," Sonenshein said. "She got pulled over more than she wanted, but not as much as Carly Fiorina, who's going to have a hard time beating Barbara Boxer because of it."

Hoffenblum sees a golden opportunity for Whitman to campaign with GOP Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a Spanish speaker liked by Latinos and who is seeking to retain his seat.

And Sonenshein wouldn't be surprised to see the immigration debate fade between Whitman and Brown.

"They'll both say, 'Tighten the border and don't do anything with the people who are already here,'" Sonenshein said. "And people won't really differentiate between them on the issue.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6753 or mwisckol@ocregister.com

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