Is Immigration a Political Dud?

posted by Josh Goodman

A Washington Post editorial says yes:

IN THE AFTERMATH of last summer's national debate over immigration reform, elected officials of all stripes were stunned by the popular passion and fury unleashed by the failed effort in Congress to provide an eventual path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Many Republicans concluded hopefully -- and many Democrats reckoned fretfully -- that immigration would be the premier wedge issue of the 2008 campaign. But with the presidential primaries in their homestretch, it now appears that both the hopes and the fears were overstated.

I've made similar arguments previously, as has Alan. It's worth noting, however, that while conservatives aren't winning many elections based on immigration, they are often winning policy battles in state legislatures.