A House race in northeastern Pennsylvania promises to be another test of how immigration control resonates with voters. Lou Barletta, mayor of Hazleton, Pa., announced Thursday that he’s running to unseat Democrat Paul Kanjorski, something he tried unsuccessfully in 2002. But that was before Barletta took the lead in local-level response to illegal immigration by passing a tough measure in 2006, which is still being challenged in court by — guess who — the ACLU and its minions. The effort has made him a star locally, where he won election to a third term as mayor in November on both the Republican and the Democratic tickets (Democratic fans had written in his name during their primary). Kanjorski knows that a lax (i.e., Bush-McCain-like) stance on immigration could cost him his job even in the heavily Democratic district, so he’s taken Rahm Emanuel’s advice (see the end of my Thursday piece) and moved right on immigration; Americans for Better Immigration gives him a D+ lifetime grade, but he’s brought it up to a C+ for the past two years. Barletta told me with a chuckle a couple months ago that Kanjorski’d sent out a mailer to the district explaining how tough he supposedly was on border enforcement. It would seem like Barletta’s got a shot at winning the race, but, as Lincoln said, with high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.