Hope this article isn't a dup. Schaffer sounds worse on this issue than his Democratic opponent Udall. Contact Schaffer and tell him what you think:

http://www.bobschafferforsenate.com/

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election 2008
Tricky issue of immigration played down
Senate hopeful Schaffer takes a moderate view on the subject for his race against Udall.
By Michael Riley
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/07/2008 06:15:16 AM MDT

Calling America a country perfectly "capable of multitasking," Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said the U.S. ought to be pursuing a guest-worker program at the same time it fortifies its borders.

On that point at least, he's more moderate than the party's likely presidential nominee, John McCain — who now insists on an "enforcement first" approach — and even his Democratic opponent, Mark Udall, a signal that the GOP is unlikely to make immigration a wedge issue in this year's most important statewide race.

Udall supported an immigration-reform effort that died in Congress last year and included both a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

But his website doesn't mention that bill, instead emphasizing his support for border security and a series of get-tough measures that make it harder for illegal immigrants to steal identities or fool employers. And like McCain, Udall now believes enforcement should come first, said Taylor West, his campaign spokeswoman.

Experts say the race for Colorado's open U.S. Senate seat shows the political difficulties of the immigration issue in 2008, especially in the West.

Still, the issue presents a more delicate balancing act for Republicans. Polls show it's a top issue of concern for GOP voters in Colorado but much less of a priority for key unaffiliated voters.

At the same time, the issue has played less potently for Republican candidates at the national level than many party strategists expected.

"Everybody thought it was going to be the gay marriage of '08, and it turned out to be a dud," said Tamar Jacoby, a national expert on immigration policy who supported last year's Senate reform bill.

"To look for a pure way out of a big mess is just unrealistic," said Schaffer, who outlined his immigration views recently in an interview with The Denver Post.

"It's a practical impossibility to contemplate rounding up 15 or 20 million illegal visitors and deporting them," said Schaffer, who as a congressman was a member of Tom Tancredo's Immigration Reform Caucus and co-sponsored a bill severely reducing allowable numbers of family-related legal immigrants.

In his first extended remarks on the issue as a candidate, Schaffer called for tamper- proof IDs for immigrant workers and tougher workplace enforcement, and even suggested giving federal grants to sheriffs and local police for immigration enforcement.

But he said the U.S. should take a "broad, comprehensive approach" to the problem of illegal immigration and suggested that workers brought in on temporary visas should be allowed to eventually apply for citizenship, a position out in front of many in his party.

Though peppering his views with occasional hard-line stances, in general Schaffer articulated a more moderate position on immigration than many in the state party, matching the expectations of analysts that the conservative former congressman will chart a middle course on hot-button issues.

Last week, Schaffer met with a group of Republican Latino leaders, who counseled him to bring more Latinos into his campaign and to avoid alienating one of the state's largest voting blocs with harsh immigration rhetoric.

Gil Cisneros, chairman of the state chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and one of those who attended the meeting, said Schaffer's position sounds more moderate now.

"I'm very, very pleasantly surprised," Cisneros said. "Obviously, he was listening."

Schaffer is clear to say he doesn't support amnesty for illegal immigrants now in the U.S. Instead, guest-worker visas should be available only to those who have not broken the country's immigration laws, he said.

The millions now in the country illegally would likely go home through tougher enforcement and as a legal avenue for more immigrant labor became available — a process of attrition that he suggested could take 25 years.

He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate that imports tens of thousands of foreign textile workers, as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally.

"The concept of prequalifying foreign workers in their home country under private- sector management is a system that works very well in one place in America," he said of the islands' program. "I think members of Congress ought to be looking at that model and be considering it as a possible basis for a nationwide program."

One of the difficulties that Schaffer now faces is that his current views are at odds with more hard-line positions he has staked out in the past. In Congress, he praised Tancredo's Immigration Reform Caucus as the "only organization in Washington looking at finding balanced, sensible solutions." And in 2006, as National Republican Committeeman, he supported a resolution that called for the elimination of automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

"He is running a campaign in the middle as much as possible on these issues," said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver pollster and political analyst. "And while he'll touch base with his conservatives and stay away from amnesty and hit enforcement . . . Schaffer has a very deliberate strategy of being a moderate."

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8834138