Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will make a "major announcement" from Iowa today, his campaign said yesterday, inviting speculation that the Colorado congressman will drop out of the race. AP reports this morning that "a person close to Tancredo" has confirmed that he will abandon his bid for the GOP nomination.
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details.
Tancredo is perhaps too much of a niche (and not well-enough known) candidate for this race, but he may take credit for ensuring that his battle cry, illegal immigration, is a decisive issue in the GOP nomination fight. His is perhaps the most hard-line position of the GOP contenders -- he has called for an end to legal immigration as well -- and that has forced many of the front-runners to sharpen their own more moderate positions to avoid appearing weak by comparison. In the CNN/YouTube debate last month, he accused his aping rivals of trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo."
Univision Debate Postmortem: The Six Amigos (Plus Ron Paul)
So, our liveblog effort was a bust thanks to my lack of high-tech closed-captioning, but it doesn't look as if we missed a whole lot in the way of fireworks. Because the immigration debate has been alienating Latino voters, it was in everyone's interest last night to promote Brand GOP (as opposed to Brand Me). Most of the seven candidates present did that, but at the expense of specifics.
In other words, this was a very broad-strokes debate. The Republican candidates have been vying for months to prove just how tough they can be on closing the borders, etc., which is sort of mandatory, as they're trying to win over mostly white, conservative base voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Then they found themselves in Miami last night before a sea of Latino Americans -- the fastest-growing bloc of voters in the nation. In order to hew to what they'd been saying about immigration reform up until last night, some of which may not have gone over well in this crowd, they had to fiddle with their rhetoric.
That translated to lots of talk of freedom and no trading barbs on sanctuary cities or sanctuary mansions. The central mission was to not tick anyone off, and on that score they probably succeeded.
When asked what issues matter most to them, Americans usually name the Iraq war, the economy and health care by a mile [PDF]. Yet immigration has been dominating the debates in both parties. What gives?
See GOP candidate Tom Tancredo's new campaign ad above. It is the most gruesomely graphic scare spot we've seen yet this cycle, and as much as you might want to turn away -- don't. This ad may well indicate that illegal immigration will be 2008's flag-burning/gay marriage, which in previous cycles had a very real effect on election outcomes despite Americans' protest that those concerns weren't part of their Election Day calculus.
It's no secret that Tom Tancredo has a one-track mind when it comes to his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. The Colorado congressman has made it clear that he is trying to push the immigration issue to the forefront of the conversation, and in some states (particularly Iowa), he appears to be succeeding.
For those who haven't heard the message, the Tancredo campaign released a new TV ad this week in Iowa and New Hampshire that is sure to grab viewers' attention with provocative images of real terrorist attacks in London and Madrid and an imagined scenario in which an illegal immigrant leaves a bomb in a crowded shopping mall -- just in time for the holidays, no less.
See today's Ad Spotlight(subscription) for more on Tancredo's debut ad buy. Plus: Did you know John Edwards is the son of a mill worker? The Democratic hopeful is once again reminding South Carolina voters of his humble beginnings in a new TV ad.
Spitzer Pulls Driver ID Plan For Illegal Immigrants
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer formally dropped his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal workers, saying the problem is a federal responsibility that can't be covered by state or local governments.
His idea was "the consequence of the federal government's failure," he said during a news conference this morning. Spitzer spoke after a meeting with New York's congressional delegation, and yesterday his office told state lawmakers that he would abandon the plan.
Originally, Spitzer introduced the idea as a way to increase security and help immigrants "out of the shadows," but it quickly came under fire when skeptics asserted it could help potential terrorists slip through legal channels. During today's news conference, Spitzer also frowned about "turning a practical security measure into a political referendum" -- a reference to the negative attention the plan received after Hillary Rodham Clinton whiffed a question on it during the Democratic debate a few weeks ago, prompting her rivals on bothsides to pounce.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., will not seek re-election regardless of what happens in his long-shot presidential campaign, he told the Rocky Mountain News Sunday. "It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue (immigration) about which I care greatly," Tancredo told the paper.
His decision creates a vacancy in the solidly conservative and Republican 6th District, which includes suburban areas south and southeast of Denver. While Tancredo's presidential campaign remains just a blip on the political radar, he has suggested he might challenge Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar in 2010, largely over his signature issue of immigration.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Michael McNulty of New York is expected to confirm today that he, too, will not seek re-election. With the Tancredo and McNulty announcements, 17 House members have announced they will not be back in the next Congress, with 11 retirements and six members running for other offices.
- CongressDaily
Photo courtesy of Flickr user VictoryNH: Protect Our Primary
Chertoff Waives Environmental Rules To Construct Border Fence
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday waived environmental laws and circumvented a federal judge's recent ruling to allow the construction of part of a security fence through a federally protected national conservation site on the Arizona-Mexico border.
Senate OKs Defense Bill With $794M For Border Patrols
The Senate last night passed the FY08 Defense appropriations bill by voice vote after unanimously approving an amendment that would provide $794 million in emergency spending for the National Guard's mission on the southwest border -- more than double what the Guard requested for "Operation Jump Start."
In a scathing critique of the latest battle between GOP presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney over who's tougher on illegal immigrants, the Wall Street Journal editorial board this morning wondered(subscription) if the candidates were "competing for the Republican Presidential nomination, or for the job of vacation replacement for Lou Dobbs?"
While CNN's popular populist probably has something to do with the front-runners' new immigration obsession, Giuliani and Romney are actually taking their cues from a much closer source: fellow Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo.
When the Colorado congressman best known for his hard-line stance on immigration declared his candidacy back in April, he made no effort to hide his intentions. "The political elite in Washington have chosen to ignore this phenomenon," he said of illegal immigration. "You look" at the Republican field "and you see no one is going to make this the primary issue of their campaign."
Frustrated by Republican lawmakers' refusal to sign on to his immigration overhaul proposals, President Bushannounced today that he would move ahead without them.
The departments of Homeland Security and Commerce will spearhead efforts to increase patrol agents and cameras along the Mexico border, train local law enforcement to handle illegal immigrants, and clamp down on employers who hire them.
The White House outlined the 26-point plan here. Businesses are not happy with the move; the Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald have reaction. And a new survey suggests that the often hostile immigration debate may already be having an effect on workers.
Federal inaction has spurred states and municipalities to forge ahead on matters like global warming and immigration. In April, the Supreme Court seemed to boost efforts by states like California to exceed federal regulations on greenhouse gases. But it's not clear whether the justices would do the same for U.S. towns leading the charge on illegal immigration.
Yesterday's decision [PDF] by a U.S. District Court judge declaring Hazleton, Pa.'s housing and employment ordinance on illegal immigrants unconstitutional will be appealed, the town's mayor promised. The decision will affect the dozens of U.S. cities and counties weighing similar measures to crack down on illegals.
Hazleton's first-in-the-nation ordinance required landlords to register with the town and all prospective rentees to submit to background checks on their residency status. Businesses found to be employing illegal immigrants were to lose their license for five years. The ordinance also declared English to be the official language of the town, which refuses to print any information in Spanish.
Judge James Munley invoked the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, ruling that only the federal government had jurisdiction over immigration law. That act stipulates: "The provisions of this section preempt any State or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws) upon those who employ, or recruit or refer for a fee for employment, unauthorized aliens."
The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion this morning to limit debate and proceed to consideration of the immigration reform bill. As promised, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled the measure from the floor, dashing the White House's hopes that a compromise on immigration reform could be reached by the end of the year.
Senators voted 53 to 46 against cloture; 60 votes in favor were needed to move forward.
Immediately following the vote tally, Reid acknowledged that "the vote is really disheartening to me in many ways," but praised the bipartisan efforts that led to the initial compromise and expressed hope for the bill's future. "This is a legislative issue that will come back. It's only a question of when," he said. "Hopefully a lesson we've all learned is that we have to work more closely together, and I hope we can do that."
In a brief statement following the bill's defeat, President Bush said he was disappointed in Congress' "failure to act" on the measure. "Congress really needs to prove to the American people that it can come together on hard issues," he added.
AP and CNN have senators' reactions to the failed vote.
First Two Amendments Fail In Renewed Immigration Debate
Two amendments designed to court conservatives who felt the original immigration reform bill was too lenient toward illegal immigrants failed in the first day of debate on the package since it first stalled in the Senate two weeks ago.
Senators voted 53 to 45 to kill a GOP-sponsored amendment that would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries in order to qualify for so-called Z visas that would offer a path to eventual citizenship. That proposal was announced earlier this week as part of a last-ditch effort to shore up support for a procedural vote on the entire reform package. The bill survived that vote, but the defeat of the first two amendments today appears to confirm expectations that the controversial reform package still has a rocky road ahead.
The second amendment under consideration was sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. By a more substantial 79-to-18 margin, the Senate voted to table the proposal, which would have required illegal immigrants seeking legal status to have been in the country for at least four years. As is, the bill offers legalization for any immigrant who arrived by Jan. 1, 2007.
The Senate will continue to debate the other amendments to the original reform package today under special procedural rules designed to expedite the process ahead of Congress' weeklong Independence Day recess.
Work on the immigration bill stalled in the Senate this afternoon after Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., demanded that a slate of pending amendments be read out loud.
Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on the overall immigration measure that is expected to be voted on Thursday.
The Senate voted 64 to 35 just after noon in favor of a cloture motion to proceed to debate on the contentious immigration bill that stalled two weeks ago. Twenty-four amendments are lined up to be considered before Thursday, when a vote on a cloture motion to limit further debate on the bill itself is expected to be held.
CongressDaily has a PDF(subscription) of the pending amendments.
Since the first attempt to move on the reform package failed, the White House and GOP senators have hammered out several amendments designed to attract more support for the compromise from hard-line conservative members.
Immigration remains the elephant in the halls of the Senate, despite energy legislation on the floor and a vote on union voting procedures looming. Republicans blasted a Finance Committee measure on energy taxes and the union vote as Democrats rallied with union leaders in advance of the vote.
But Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have agreed to bring immigration back up, although leaders said the details of which amendments would be allowed to garner enough votes for passage remained in the works.
Bush Affirms Support For Border Security Provision
As part of his continuing effort to court GOP support for the stalled immigration reform bill, President Bush endorsed a multibillion-dollar amendment today that attempts to shore up support among those who viewed the original deal as too lenient on illegal immigrants.
At a meeting of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez stood by the plan, crafted by the White House and a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday, which would immediately allocate $4.4 billion to enhance border security and law enforcement. "It would be effectively a mandatory spending account that would be continuously funded by fees and collections through the law. So all the money would always be set aside for border enforcement," White House press secretary Tony Snowexplained this morning.
The amendment, proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would also increase the amount of time the government could take in answering illegal immigrants' requests for legal work permits.
The New York Times had a full report on the border security amendment this morning. CNN covered Bush's remarks today in Washington, while FOX News and MSNBC opted to broadcast the Los Angeles sheriff's department's press conference on Paris Hilton's incarceration instead.
Dems Ask Bush For Immigration Help As He Heads To Hill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday that he would be willing to schedule more floor debate for a bipartisan immigration compromise after the Senate completes its work on an energy bill, "if we see new cooperation and a clear way forward from the Republican Caucus."
"If we can work out something when we finish this energy bill to complete immigration, I want to do that," Reid said. A second floor debate on immigration would likely push the Senate's scheduled consideration of a defense authorization bill until after the Independence Day recess.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said most Republican senators have "made up their minds" on immigration. But, McConnell added, "I think there's a reasonable number of Republicans who, in the end are likely, unless this compromise gets unraveled in some way, in the end, are likely to help us get it through."
President Bush will meet with Senate Republicans today at their weekly policy luncheon to discuss immigration.
Bush Seeks To Round Up Republicans On Immigration Plan
Like many Americans this summer, President Bush will return to Washington tonight wishing he was back on vacation. (It wasn't technically a vacation, but Albania made sure it felt like one.)
But there will be no break for Bush, not so long as the Senate remains at a standstill on immigration reform. Speaking to reporters in Sofia, Bulgaria, earlier today, Bush said he has spoken with top Republicans on the compromise bill, and will venture up to the Hill tomorrow to persuade lawmakers to give the bill one more shot.
"Listen, a lot of progress was made between people in both parties making hard decisions necessary to move a comprehensive plan. It's in the nation's interest to get a comprehensive bill done. The political process sometimes isn't pretty to look at it," Bush said, having noted with criticism that senators today are voting on a technically meaningless no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The Senate late Thursday dealt a major blow to a bipartisan immigration bill, rejecting a motion by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to cut off debate on the measure as supporters could muster only 45 votes for it.
Reid then pulled the bill from the floor but left open the possibility that the Senate could revisit the measure at some point in the future. "I have every desire to complete this legislation," Reid said after the vote. "When is that? I don't know."
"I think we're giving up on this bill too soon," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "I doubt if the prospects get better with the passage of time."
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily(subscription) for more of today's news.
Looks like trouble for the "grand bargain" immigration overhaul proposal. Senators rejected a motion to wrap up debate on the bill 34-61 -- a result indicative of the great bipartisan displeasure with the White House-backed compromise.
Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill would remain up for consideration so lawmakers could continue to attach amendments tweaking the measure. AP has more on today's vote, and the Senate's Web site has a record of the sundry amendments that have been put up for the bill.
A compromise immigration bill risks coming unraveled after the Senate voted to place a five-year limit on a program meant to provide employers with 200,000 temporary foreign workers annually. The 49-48 vote came shortly after midnight, and two weeks after the Senate, also by a one-vote margin, rejected the same amendment by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
The reversal dismayed backers of the immigration bill, which is supported by President Bush. Business interests and their congressional allies were already angry that the temporary worker program had been cut in half from its original 400,000-person-a-year target. Bill supporters will try as soon as today to convince at least one senator to change his vote to reverse the outcome.
Immigration hardliners who decry the "grand compromise" measure wending its way through the Senate got a little more ammunition today, when a proposal that would bar legal status for illegal immigrants who commit identity fraud was narrowly defeated, 51 to 46.
The proposal, introduced by Texas Republican John Cornyn, was designed to add teeth to the bill he and others have decried as amnesty by stripping away the option of earned legalization for illegal immigrants who have committed felonies, including identity fraud. But the proposal was rejected by Republicans Pete Domenici, Lindsey Graham, Jon Kyl, John McCain, Arlen Specter and others who sided with the Democrats.
No doubt these lawmakers, already seen as traitors to many in their base, will have trouble living down this vote. Many illegal immigrants have committed some kind of identity fraud in order to work and live in this country, usually in the form of fake Social Security numbers. The proposal threatened to negate one of the main tenets of the controversial immigration compromise, which is to provide an alternative to mass imprisonment or deportation of the 12 million people who are in the country illegally. McCain, Graham and Specter helped engineer the bill.
In order to deflect the coming attacks, Democrats lured away lawmakers with a competing proposal from Edward Kennedy, another architect of the compromise. The Massachusetts Democrat's offer denies legalization to those who've been convicted of sex offenses, gang-related activities, drunk driving and domestic violence. Kennedy's measure received bipartisan support in a 66-32 vote.
Another day, another debate. CNN's Wolf Blitzer et al. are staying put in Manchester, N.H., tonight to host another meeting of the Republican candidates, just two days after the Democrats squared off on the same stage. If tonight's meeting seems a tad anticlimactic, or rather, pre-climactic, that might be because someone's still missing from the current slate.
Enter Fred Thompson. The former senator and "Law and Order" star once played the president on TV, and unlike Dr. Cliff Warner from "All My Children" ("I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV"), Thompson isn't selling cough syrup. Instead, he is positioning himself to be the candidate who cures what's ailing Republican voters.
NationalJournal.com's Poll Track(subscription) yesterday noted that voters already seem bored with what's on offer for 2008. Thompson sent ripples through the campaigns last week when he formed an exploratory committee. Sources close to the campaign told reporters the former Tennessee senator will formally declare his candidacy on the Fourth of July.
The death of Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas loomed over the luncheons today, with senators reminiscing about the three-term conservative, who tended to work behind the scenes.
Immigration also cast a heavy pall, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., threatened to file a cloture motion to wind up debate on the measure this week. Republicans said they would oppose cloture, demanding more time for amendments. Reid said he'd put off the bill if cloture fails.
So, the people in the Mexico City audience who gave Miss USA a hard time were really angry about... immigration reform?
Newsreports are claiming that when Rachel Smith was soundly booed during the interview round of this weekend's Miss Universe pageant, the crowd meant to express its anger toward the United States -- not Smith herself, who was already having a bad night after tripping in the evening gown part of the competition.
Pageant co-owner Donald Trump offered this analysis: "I don't think they are booing because of Rachel. They are booing because of the immigration policy."
In the dog days of the summer of 2006, Republican leaders in Congress hit the road to hold a number of field hearings on immigration reform close to the U.S.-Mexican border. Nearly a year later, lawmakers still haven't reached a "comprehensive" agreement on the issue and are once again moving the debate from Capitol Hill to the main streets of America.
The latest immigration deal is likely to be the focus of federal lawmakers' visits to their districts during this week's Memorial Day recess. And while the proposed bill has the support of President Bush and the so-called Gang of 12 Senate negotiators, it seems to have angered more than it has encouraged.
Senate Turns Back Effort To Strip Guest Worker Provision
The Senate yesterday turned back an amendment to an immigration bill that would have eliminated its proposed guest worker program, a move that members of the bipartisan coalition negotiating the bill said would have killed the entire package.
The 64-31 vote was a significant indicator determining the level of discomfort among Democrats about the guest worker program, which was inserted into the compromise bill at the request of Republicans.
In the end, 28 Democrats and one independent -- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- joined two Republicans -- Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and David Vitter of Louisiana -- to strike the guest worker program from the bill.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily(subscription) for more coverage of Congress.
Romney Was For Immigration Reform Before He... Etc. Etc.
The contest among the top three GOP candidates has so far been about who's the most like Ronald Reagan. But the latest hot-potato issue to hit Congress has given still-deciding Republican voters a little something to sink their teeth into -- that is, the makings of a real fist-fight between two of the candidates.
In a conference call with bloggers yesterday, John McCain whacked Mitt Romney three times over, starting with the former Massachusetts governor's opposition to the compromise immigration proposal introduced to the Senate last weekend. "Maybe I should wait a couple weeks and see if it changes," McCain said, in remarks reported by the New York Sun. "And maybe his solution will be to get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his yard."
Several senators speaking on the floor today had a unified message for backers of an immigration proposal: Slow down.
Noting that they had only received the 326-page plan at around 2 in the morning on Saturday, lawmakers bristled at a vote to take up debate set for this evening and calls from the proposal's backers to pass legislation before the Memorial Day break this weekend.
The compromise proposal, crafted by White House and bipartisan Senate negotiators last week, would allow the 12 million or so illegal immigrants already in the country to register with the government in order to remain, and offer a renewable visa that could eventually allow them to become permanent residents.
To many immigration hardliners, such provisions amount to amnesty.
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details. 
So, our liveblog effort 
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer formally dropped his plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal workers, saying the problem is a federal responsibility that can't be covered by state or local governments.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday 
While CNN's popular populist probably has something to do with the front-runners' new immigration obsession, Giuliani and Romney are actually taking their cues from a much closer source: fellow Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo.
But there will be no break for Bush, not so long as the Senate remains at a standstill on immigration reform. Speaking to reporters in Sofia, Bulgaria, earlier today, Bush said he has spoken with top Republicans on the compromise bill, and will venture up to the Hill tomorrow to persuade lawmakers to give the bill one more shot. 
