With Election Tuesday closing in, and thousands of minority voters ready to participate in their first presidential election, a pro-immigration group has launched a new television ad campaign to play in swing states, intending to revive the discussion of immigration, The Las Vegas Sun reports.  Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, launched the 60-second ad last week, urging both sides of the aisle in Washington to reach a consensus, and pass a comprehensive immigration reform plan.  “Let’s finish the job by enacting comprehensive immigration solutions,” the ad says. “We need to bring the estimated 12 million undocumented workers who are in our country into a legal system of employment.”

The ad, according to group spokesman and former Texas Rep. Henry Bonilla, said the aim of the ad was to encourage a neutral solution to the immigration issue.  Bonilla stresses that the tone and message of the ad were carefully created to not push any particular agenda, saying that the group tried to stay away from phrases that “stir people up.  We’re by no means saying one aspect has to be involved.  We’re saying everyone has to keep this fire burning, so that there is a solution at the end.”

An effort at federal immigration reform came in 2006, when current Republican presidential nominee John McCain co-sponsored the comprehensive bill.  It ultimately died on the Senate floor as a consensus could not be reached; McCain did not support a 2007 bill.  Both McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama have both expressed the need for immigration reform.  McCain has said that he would not reintroduce the bill he once supported in the Senate. 

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New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has begun campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama this month, stressing to supporters the importance the Hispanic vote will carry this election, and that the issue of comprehensive immigration reform is still an important issue, and one that voters must be mindful of when they cast their votes. 

Speaking at a rally in Pueblo, Colorado, The Pueblo Chieftan reports that Richardson acknowledged that most Hispanics want a fair, comprehensive immigration policy that gives undocumented immigrants already present in the US an opportunity to legalize their status by paying back taxes. 

“McCain walked away from his own sensible, comprehensive immigration plan,” Richardson told the audience.  “Obama hasn’t walked away.  He still supports it.”  McCain was an original sponsor of the legislation bill in 2006, but has since backed away from this legislation since he began campaigning for president, opting instead for simply increasing border security. 

Citing a July survey from the Pew Hispanic Institute, Frank Sharry of the pro-immigration think tank America’s Voice notes that Latino voters could make up as much as 10% of the electorate this November, compared to 8% in 2004.  Though it has been dwarfed by other issues, immigration policy still weighs heavily in the minds of Latino voters:  “In English, there isn’t much of a debate going on,” Sharry told The Arizona Republic.  “In Spanish, it’s a huge topic.”

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At a campaign stop in North Carolina earlier this month, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama suggested that the children of undocumented immigrants should have an opportunity to attend public community colleges, The News & Observer of Raleigh reports.  Obama said children who attended public schools should have the chance to continue to improve themselves rather than being consigned to the fringes of society.  “For us to deny access to community college, even though they’ve never lived in Mexico, at least as far as they can tell…is to deny that this is how we’ve always built this country up,” Obama said in an interview with a NC news station.

The stance by Obama represents a contrast on the immigration issue from his Republican rival John McCain.  Last month, McCain issued a statement, in which he opposes “giving amnesty or public benefits to undocumented immigrants.”  McCain has not yet specifically addressed the issue of whether they should be permitted to attend public colleges.