McCain's rise might provide boost for immigration change
He, Obama, Clinton favor granting legal status
By Bertrand M. Gutierrez
WINSTON SALEM, NC JOURNAL REPORTER
Sunday, February 10, 2008

Two years after Congress stopped an attempt to pass comprehensive immigration change, the tide may be shifting once again — this time in favor of giving illegal immigrants a path toward legal status, political observers say.

That unlikely turn may have taken root last week, they say, when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had tried to rally conservatives by taking a tough stance on immigration, dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

His withdrawal made Sen. John McCain the overwhelming Republican favorite ahead of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor. With McCain the GOP front-runner, and Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the Democratic contenders, the leading candidates in both major parties support some type of comprehensive immigration change.

That scenario left Hispanic community leaders, immigration experts and political observers equally surprised, but they expressed different points of view on what it says about U.S. voters and what it might mean for immigration changes.

“What Americans are saying is ‘Let’s do something, and let them stay in this country,’â€