Thread: Romney Camp Signals Shift on Illegal Immigration

Romney Camp Signals Shift on Illegal Immigration
Cameron Joseph April 17th 2012
TheHill

Ed Gillespie


Mitt Romney’s hiring of Republican strategist Ed Gillespie is being seen as a sign the campaign will heavily court Hispanic voters — perhaps at the expense of immigration hard-liners in the party.

Gillespie, a former head of the Republican National Committee, has long advocated an aggressive outreach to the Hispanic community. He helped found the Republican State Leadership Committee, a group that recruits and trains GOP candidates for office and has emphasized finding female and minority candidates. He also heads up Resurgent Republic, an organization focused on messaging to independents, including Hispanic swing voters.

When asked for an interview, Gillespie directed reporter to Romney’s presidential campaign, which said he’d be a senior adviser that will help them with messaging, overall strategy and the August convention in Tampa, Fla. They declined to give any further details on his role. Gillespie has been seen as having a more centrist approach on illegal immigration, even when many in the party wanted to take a hard-line stance on the issue, driving away Hispanic voters in the process.

He was RNC chairman during former President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection, when “Viva Bush” signs popped up across the Southwest and in Florida, and advised the White House during Bush’s push for a comprehensive immigration reform law. He later took on a more prominent role in the Bush White House. Hispanics make up a large and growing part of the U.S. electorate, and are especially important in swing states in the Southwest, as well as Florida and Virginia.

The RNC is highly aware of this, and on April 16 announced it would have state-level Hispanic outreach directors placed in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. But Romney has a long way to go with Hispanic voters — a March poll from Fox News had President Obama leading Romney among Hispanic voters by 70 percent to 14, a number that, if it holds, all but guarantees Obama’s reelection. Bush received approximately 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, while Arizona Sen. John McCain — the GOP’s 2008 nominee — received 31 percent despite his longtime support of immigration reform, which many strategists say cost him several Western states.

Earlier this year, at the RNC’s annual meeting, Gillespie warned that if the GOP didn’t improve its standing with Hispanics it would be in trouble this election — and for the foreseeable future. He pointed out that, with the current demographic trends, if Republicans win the same percentage of minorities that McCain did in the last presidential election, they’ll lose the White House by 14 points in 2020.

“We’ll be in a situation where Florida won’t be a swing state — Texas will be a swing state. And that’s a tough row to hoe in the Electoral College,” Gillespie said at the time. “The demographic challenges before us, if we’re not thoughtful as a party and we’re not thoughtful as we talk about policies, will be a real long-term challenge for us as well.”

Establishment members of the party praised Gillespie’s hiring. “He’s going to be great as a key figure in the Romney campaign,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told The Hill on April 16. “Ed brings a pretty big background in understanding and being an effective communicator in the Hispanic community and that can only be a positive.”

Some signs of a shift in Romney’s tone have already emerged since his status as the presumptive nominee has become stronger.

The former Massachusetts governor warned during a private fundraiser this past weekend that his standing in polls with Hispanics “spells doom for us,” and that to alleviate the problem the GOP needed to offer its own policies to woo Hispanics. His suggestions included a “Republican DREAM Act,” referring to a GOP version of the Democratic plan that would give some illegal immigrants who came here as children a path to citizenship.

While he was not advocating for a specific policy, the comments were a sharp break from Romney’s rhetoric during the primary, when he said he would veto the DREAM Act and attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) for backing a state law that gave illegal immigrants in-state college tuition, calling it a “magnet” for more illegal immigration.

Despite the Romney campaign’s emphasis on a Monday conference call that he “was just discussing ideas that were coming up on the campaign trial,” Romney’s ruminations sounded very similar to recent comments from Sen. Marco Rubio. The Florida Republican, who is a leading potential vice presidential candidate, suggested a new version of the DREAM Act, which would allow for permanent residency but not provide a path to citizenship.

Gillespie’s hiring is being viewed as a counter to hard-line advisers in the Romney camp, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), who wrote Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

Republican strategists predicted that Gillespie’s gravitas would make him influential within the Romney campaign, outweighing the more-conservative voices on the issue.

“Ed Gillespie has the foresight and influence to guide the Republican Party leadership and also the rank-and-file grassroots activists along the lines of building a larger majority and bringing a lot of people together,” said GOP strategist Leslie Sanchez.

Many Hispanic swing voters, especially second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans in the Southwest, are more focused on the economy, but bristle if they feel they’re being intentionally targeted on immigration, said Sanchez. She said Romney needed to lay out his policies soon.

“Romney must soon come forward with a strong, well developed solution and a timeline for immigration reform. The risk in not doing so is it allows others on the left to define it for him,” she said. “The good news is there’s an incredibly receptive, open-minded independent Latino voting bloc that has yet to form a solid opinion about Romney and his solutions to improve the economic strength of our country.”

Cameron Joseph writes for The Hill, from where this article is adapted.

The Cutting Edge News

Another problem fot a GOP are many candidate run for Republican and are not Republican,that is all Dems-demon machine job.Nobama send billion to Mexico and leave Mexico Gov interfere with we business.We need a next Presidend,first close Immigration,close and seal aborder plus send a Army tere,and maybe cut down all relation with Mexico.

Originally Posted by hora

Another problem fot a GOP are many candidate run for Republican and are not Republican,that is all Dems-demon machine job.Nobama send billion to Mexico and leave Mexico Gov interfere with we business.We need a next Presidend,first close Immigration,close and seal aborder plus send a Army tere,and maybe cut down all relation with Mexico.

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RELATED

The 2012 Latino vote (not going to be Republican)


(VIDEO AT SOURCE)

But guess what: No way will any of us vote for the Republicans in 2012.

Mitt Romney Campaign Backs Away From Kris Kobach

Posted: 04/17/2012 4:39 pm Updated: 04/17/2012 4:54 pm
Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Kansas secretary of state and anti-undocumented immigration hawk Kris Kobach has said he's an adviser for the Mitt Romney campaign.

The Romney campaign apparently now disagrees.

On Tuesday, the campaign told Politico that Kobach is a "supporter," not an adviser. This contradicts both Kobach's previous statements and his seemingly larger role in the campaign -- a bigger part than the campaign is letting on.

Kobach appeared in the spin room for Romney after a January debate in South Carolina. Romney's remarks on immigration often echo Kobach's arguments, although he does not specifically reference them. The idea of self-deportation is one Kobach touts frequently, and Romney called Arizona immigration law SB 1070, which Kobach helped to write, a model for the nation.

And the campaign, when announcing Kobach's endorsement on Jan. 11, said he would have a role "on the team."

"We need more conservative leaders like Kris willing to stand up for the rule of law," Romney said in a statement in January. "With Kris on the team, I look forward to working with him to take forceful steps to curtail illegal immigration and to support states like South Carolina and Arizona that are stepping forward to address this problem."

Kobach did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told ThinkProgress that his relationship to Romney has not changed and he is "still doing the same thing [he] was doing before" by "providing advice on immigration policy." Kobach also said he is in regular communication with the campaign.

He began serving as an unpaid adviser at the beginning of 2012, even before he announced his endorsement, Kobach said on Feb. 1. He has also said he advised Romney on his 2008 campaign, but that he is more involved this time around.

Kobach told Fox News in January that Romney held the most far-right views on immigration of any of the GOP presidential candidates -- perhaps not the message the candidate wants to put forward for a general election in which many Latino voters disagree with those ideas.

At the time, that may have seemed useful. Romney was starting to campaign in South Carolina, a state that adopted an anti-unauthorized immigration law that was similar to Arizona's SB 1070. Two days after that primary, Romney adopted Kobach's plan of "attrition through enforcement" -- making it difficult for undocumented immigrants to live in the United States so they would leave -- and called it "self-deportation."

Now, though, Romney is the presumptive GOP nominee and needs to attract Latino voters, a majority of whom oppose SB 1070. Many groups have also condemned Romney for touting Kobach's support, and it could make for campaign fodder for Democrats eager to paint Republicans as anti-immigrant.

A source familiar with the Romney campaign's Latino vote efforts said in January the campaign would attempt to focus less on immigration and more on the economy to reach out to voters.

Romney said Sunday he would like to see a Dream Act-style bill to help undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children -- even though he said in January he would veto the bill in its current form. More than 90 percent of Latino voters support the Dream Act -- referring to the current version.

The campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Kobach's role.

Mitt Romney Campaign Backs Away From Kris Kobach

romney said sunday he would like to see a dream act-style bill to help undocumented immigrants who entered the united states as children -- even though he said in january he would veto the bill in its current form. More than 90 percent of latino voters support the dream act -- referring to the current version.

flip--------flop

If Romney flips on immigration it will mean that the American public cannot trust him on anything he says about any issue.

If Romney flips on illegal immigration, his chances of winning will plummet as he experiences the Rick Perry plunge and then he will probably cost Republicans the house.

Therefore we would end up with liberal Obama or liberal Romney as President with Democrats in control of both houses of Congress and that would be certainly be a toxic combination capable of KILLING AMERICA.

A virtual political death blow to America.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

If Romney flips on illegal immigration, his chances of winning will plummet as he experiences the Rick Perry plunge and then he will probably cost Republicans the house.

W

What's really interesting about the ever coveted "Hispanic Vote" they seek so dilgently, is only 8% to 12%, I guess we're all just chopped liver!

Tweeting this pg. to Ol' Mitt and Team Romney!

Mitt Romney
P.O. Box 149756
Boston, MA 02114-9756
857-288-3500
https://www.facebook.com/#!/mittromney
https://twitter.com/#!/MittRomney
For all other inquiries, please contact info@mittromney.com.

Isn't it cool how I do that?

We need to FLOOD THE CAMPAIGN with NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ON THIS. They already get about 30% of the hispanic vote, bush got 38%, that small 5% difference is not going to win him the election!

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/romney-...migration-388/

RELATED REPUBLICAN VERSION OF DREAM ACT ALIPAC News ..

Rubio's immigration push a potential lift for GOP

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's push for a Republican version of immigration legislation looks like the answer to the election-year prayers of the GOP -- and Mitt Romney.

Rubio -- telegenic son of Cuban exiles and potential vice presidential pick -- is pulling together a bill that would allow young illegal immigrants to remain in the United States but denies them citizenship, an initial step in the drawn-out, divisive fight over immigration policy and the fate of the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally.