Not a great Election Day for Republicans yesterday. We can argue about how big illegal immigration will play in next year’s elections nationwide, but based on yesterday, it seems clear the issue won’t be a silver bullet for Republicans. The Washington Post looks at the muted response from Northern Virginia voters, and McCain man Patrick Hynes sounds a cautionary note for the GOP.
Mark Kirkorian offers his take here, finding some races where the tougher-on-enforcement candidates won. He contends the primary culprit was lackluster campaiging on the part of Republican candidates. Perhaps.
But the passion that shows up at town hall forums, calls in to local talk radio, is reflected in letters to the editor, etc., doesn’t always translate into overwhelming numbers at the ballot box.
I really want to see detailed polling on this – did the immigration message not resonate with some key demographic? Soccer moms?
UPDATE: In New York State, Democrats are contending the Spitzer plan didn’t hurt them. Of course, in places that they had to, they ran against it:
In most of those areas where Mr. Spitzer’s licensing proposal moved to the forefront of the campaign, Democrats were able to cauterize the issue by publicly breaking with the governor, harshly criticizing the plan and in some cases threatening to join lawsuits challenging it.
A Virginia Campaign Spot reader noted that even the Democratic ads made their candidates sound tough on illegal immigration. The issue requires contrast to be electorally powerful; maybe voters aren’t convinced that local Democrats will be any different on the issue than local Republicans.