Immigration Reform and the 2008 Congressional Elections

Martha Zollerdiscusses teh immigration reform bill and its impact on the 2008 elections for U.S. Senators. Speaking in light of the Georgia Senate election, in which Sen. Saxby Chambliss is running, Zoller notes that the dead bill will come back to haunt Chambliss and others who were not seen as sufficiently "enforcement first":

After the bill was shelved, grassroots meetings of Republicans went on all across the country. They were training candidates and updating issues. Immigration Reform was still topic one at most of these meetings.

So what effect will immigration reform have on the 2008 elections? Here’s the skinny. If you live in an area where illegal immigration in a major issue, you will expect your candidates -- whether Democrat of Republican -- to be a hard line borders first candidate. If the Union vote is important to your district, the same will be expected of you. The shelving of the bill last week is not the end; it is the beginning of a long fight. It is simple. Enforce the laws you have or change them to strengthen border security before you to anything else. That’s what the American people want.

Americans are not trusting government, either the Bush Administration or the Cogressional Demcocrats to make sure that currently law is enforced and that is why it is going to be an issue.