2008'S STEALTH ISSUE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

IMMIGRATION IS A STEALTH ISSUE BECAUSE IT HELPS THE GOP.

VIA MARK LEVIN: GOP Finds Hot Button in Illegal Immigration

Special Election in Massachusetts Could Be Indicative of Democratic Weak Spot

When Republican Jim Ogonowski launched his long-shot bid for Congress, he prepared for an upbeat campaign in his Democratic, working-class district of Massachusetts, based on a winning r¿sum¿: affable hay farmer, former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and brother of an American Airlines pilot whose hijacked plane slammed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

But by last month, although opinion polling showed that he was well liked, he was still running 10 points behind Democrat Niki Tsongas with just weeks to go before a special election. The campaign needed a way to go beyond biography, to persuade Northern Massachusetts to vote Republican. They found it in illegal immigration.

Democrat Niki Tsongas won by only 51 to 45 percent in a district that gave presidential hopefuls Al Gore and John F. Kerry 57 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday, Ogonowski still fell short, but Tsongas's 51 to 45 percent victory was a shocker in a district where both John F. Kerry and Al Gore took 57 percent of the vote, and where liberal Democratic Rep. Martin T. Meehan served comfortably for eight terms. The underwhelming victory of the wife of deceased former senator Paul Tsongas has rekindled Democratic concerns about an immigration issue they had hoped had been put to rest.

"This issue has real implications for the country. It captures all the American people's anger and frustration not only with immigration, but with the economy," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and an architect of the Democratic congressional victories of 2006. "It's self-evident. This is a big problem."

Republicans, sensing a major vulnerability, have been hammering Democrats, forcing Congress to face the question of illegal immigration on every bill they can find,

THOMPSON IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS ISSUE. AS IS ROMNEY. RUDY NOT SO MUCH. MCCAIN, NOT AT ALL; (IT COST HIM HIS FRONT-RUNNER STATUS).

THE DEMS LIKE ILLEGALS BECAUSE THEY THINK/KNOW ILLEGALS WILL VOTE FOR THEM, (ILLEGALLY).

THIS ISSUE IS LIKE NAFTA AND WELFARE REFORM: ANY DEM WHO SUPPORTS THE MUCH MORE POPULAR CONSERVATIVE PLANS RISKS LOSING A LOT OF SUPPORT.

DOES ANY DEM NOW RUNNING HAVE THE COJONES TO RISK THAT?

NOPE.