Candidates silence on immigration irks Latinos

Two presidential debates later, and still no comment from John McCain or Barack Obama on the issue of illegal immigration.

With anxiety over the economy high, immigration has faded from the national stage and become an inconvenient topic for candidates, said Efrain Escobedo, voter engagement director for the nonpartisan National Association of Latino Elected Officials, or NALEO.

Ironically, though, the election's outcome could hinge on how each candidate frames immigration and how many Latino votes he can draw in four swing states: Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Florida, Escobedo said.

Both candidates are trying to connect with Latinos who have been stung by anti-immigrant rhetoric they regard as racially tinged. The candidates want such voters to know they want increased immigration enforcement but also a path to a legal status for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

McCain may have the more difficult task.

He once earned the respect of Latinos -- and the wrath of many immigration hardliners in his own party -- for championing so-called comprehensive reform. The Republican nominee now says he won't consider legalization or visa reform before Southwest governors certify that the U.S.-Mexico border is secure.

However, the Republican platform contradicts McCain by rejecting amnesty or "en mass legalizations."

The Rev. Sam Rodriguez, the Sacramento, Calif.-based president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an evangelical network, is a social conservative leaning toward voting for McCain.

He has spoken with McCain about immigration and is convinced he has a commitment to legalization. But Rodriguez says he is bothered that the McCain campaign's message on immigration changes "according to the venue."

"The problem is Senator McCain's party has been the personification of xenophobia and nativism," said Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican. "We really need the RNC (the Republican National Committee) to apologize to the Hispanic community."

Rodriguez was asked to serve on a national McCain Hispanic advisory committee, but turned it down at the behest of his organization.

McCain's support for legalization "was at his own political peril," said longtime GOP Latina activist and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, who is strongly pro-McCain. "Hispanics should be grateful."

Leaving nothing to chance, both campaigns are airing immigration-related television ads, among other themes, in Spanish in swing states.

In one ad, McCain falsely blamed Obama and Democrats for the failure of comprehensive reform in Congress. An Obama ad drew fire for linking McCain to anti-immigrant GOP figures and radio talk-show hosts who have attacked McCain as soft on immigration.

Latinos are not monolithic, said NALEO's Escobedo, and the choice of how to campaign in each swing state shows that.

For example, McCain might attract votes talking up his military service in New Mexico or Colorado, with their high numbers of Latino veterans.

In Nevada, an affirmative immigration message could tap into nearly 60,000 Latino voters who have registered there since 2004.

President Bush won Nevada in 2004 by only 20,000 votes.

In a NALEO survey last month, Nevada Latino voters said immigration reform was the second-most important issue in deciding how to vote.

The survey also found that one out of every three Latino voters in Nevada is undecided.

In North Carolina, Obama was asked recently whether undocumented youths should be allowed to attend community colleges, as 112 did last year.

The Democratic nominee said he thought it made sense if they had spent most of their lives here, and that it would be better to find a pathway for them to become legal. Contacted by media in that state, the McCain campaign didn't address the specific question but said McCain doesn't support amnesty or benefits for illegal immigrants.

(E-mail Susan Ferriss at sferriss(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)