Arizona Senator John McCain cites his standing with his state’s Hispanics as proof that he is a different kind of Republican, distinct from the illegal- immigration foes who dominate the party. He vows to campaign in the barrios, gunning for the 70 percent Latino support he won in his last senatorial election.

That’s precisely what worries anti-immigration Republicans, who say the party’s base will stay at home if it detects the kind of mariachi politics that President George W. Bush practiced to win more than 40 percent of Latino voters in 2004.

If McCain “panders for the Hispanic vote, politically, he’ll kill himself and he’ll kill us,” said Arizona state Representative Russell Pearce, a Republican who is leading a effort to revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. “There are more votes in my approach than his.”

Learn More

Popularity: 1% [?]