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| 8. Campaign 2012: | |
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The New York Times reports that Republicans adopted a party platform on immigration that would require employers nationwide to verify workers' legal status and deny federal financing to universities that allow illegal immigrant students to enroll at lower in-state tuition rates. The party's platform comes as Mitt Romney moves closer to courting Hispanic voters before the general election. Romney hinted that he would consider a DREAM Act for illegal immigrants who serve in the military. The party platform, however, offers no support for that proposal. Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, proposed the party platform calling for mandatory use by employers of a federal electronic system, E-Verify, to confirm the legal immigration status of new hires. "If you really want to create a job tomorrow, you can remove an illegal immigrant today," Kobach said.
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The Hill (DC) reports that President Obama has a massive lead among Hispanic voters, 63 percent to Mitt Romney's 28 percent. In the 2008 election, Obama took 67 percent to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain's 32. The Romney campaign told The Hill this week it needs to take 38 percent of the Hispanic vote to defeat President Obama. To date, Romney has lost a significant amount of favorability among Hispanics with 48 percent saying they have a negative view of him compared to the 31 percent positive. The president's new directive has put Republicans on the defensive, with Romney's campaign caught between Hispanic outreach and pleasing the large segments of the GOP base that view the policy as amnesty. However, the poll found that support for Obama among Hispanics is soft as only 61 percent said they were enthusiastic about the upcoming election-a 20 percent decrease from Hispanic enthusiasm in 2008. Even if Romney does not meet his 38 percent mark, President Obama's challenge will be to maximize turnout among this key constituency.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/244769-poll-obama-maintains-massive-lead-among-hispanics
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The Los Angeles Times reports that Republicans received a mild lashing from one of the party's most revered figures, Jeb Bush, who urged the GOP to change its tone on immigration. Bush has previously stated his concerns about the party's hard-line immigration stance. "You can't ask people to join your cause and then send a signal that you're really not wanted," the former Florida governor said. However, despite the polls, Bush said he was convinced Romney could make strides by focusing on a message of economic growth and job creation.
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The Associated Press reports that part of the Democratic platform, which was unveiled at the national convention, states that "Democrats are strongly committed to enacting comprehensive immigration reform." Reform would include bringing "undocumented immigrants out of the shadows" and requiring illegal immigrants to "get right with the law," learn English and pay taxes in order to get on a path toward citizenship. It also calls for a "visa system that will meet the country's economic needs, keep families together while also enforcing the law." The platform acknowledges that administrative fixes are not permanent and that only congress can provide permanent, comprehensive solutions.
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EFE reports that President Obama said in an exclusive interview with Agencia Efe, Spain's international news agency, that he had not promised to complete his entire 2008 campaign agenda, including immigration reform, during his first term but rather had said he would begin working on it. While the president acknowledged that some agenda items such as comprehensive immigration reform have not been accomplished, he noted that, in 2008, he did not promise that everything would be completed by his first term-only that his administration would begin work on such things. The President blamed Republicans for the lack of progress on reform legislation in his first term and pledged he would try to bring up the issue in the first year of a second term.
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Fox News Latino reports that the all-Republican Kansas State Objections Board recently considered removing President Obama from the state's November ballot over a reignited claim that he is not eligible to be president. A Manhattan, Kansas resident, Joe Montgomery, claims President Obama is not eligible to be president because Obama's father was from Kenya and Montgomery questions whether Obama has a valid birth certificate. While the notion that President Obama was born anywhere other than in Hawaii has long been discredited and the White House released his long-form birth certificate last year, Montgomery argues that, to be eligible for presidency, both of Obama's parents had to be U.S. citizens when he was born. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is also Romney's campaign advisor on immigration policy, heads the all-Republican Kansas organization that is considering removing President Obama from the November ballot. "We have to take our responsibilities seriously, said Kobach. Although Kobach made the "birther" issue a part of his 2010 election campaign, he conceded that it would be difficult for Montgomery to prevail, particularly because Kansas has a high legal standard for removing a candidate from the ballot. Kip Wainscott, an attorney for the campaign sent the board a letter saying that Montgomery's claims were "without merit."
The New York Times reported on September 15th that Kobach backed down and the President will appear on the ballot.
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