Entries for May 2007

That's what Stephen Hayes is reporting in the Weekly Standard and Mike Allen in Politico. Last night I attended an off-the-record American Spectator dinner with Thompson and his wife, Jeri; George Will and Robert Novak were also there. I'm not supposed to say what was said there, but nothing I heard inclined me to think that Hayes and Allen have gotten it wrong. Thompson's exploratory committee will go into action June 4, collecting money and hiring staffers.

Here is my U.S. News column this week, with my latest thoughts on immigration. Blogging will be infrequent in the days ahead, because I'm crashing on completing my manuscript for The Almanac of American Politics 2008.

The Senate voted yesterday to keep the guest-worker provisions in the Kennedy-Kyl immigration bill. I think everyone who wants to pass something like this legislation should pay close attention to this analysis by pollster Scott Rasmussen. Key paragraphs:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has wisely postponed any vote on the Kyl-Kennedy immigration bill until after the Memorial Day recess. This gives everyone time to examine the details of the legislation closely and to recommend changes, some of which may alter the thrust of the bill but others of which may simply make its provisions work more effectively.

My Creators Syndicate column this week is on immigration. I tend to support the approach taken in the compromise bill hammered out by Jon Kyl and Edward Kennedy, which in many ways should be more appealing to conservatives than the bill the Republican-majority Senate passed a year ago next week.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the progress, or lack of progress, of the immigration compromise hammered out by Sens. Edward Kennedy and Jon Kyl. They're an interesting pair of partners. The first bill that Kennedy floor-managed as a senator was the immigration act of 1965, some 42 years ago. Last year, he and John McCain worked out the details of the bill that passed the Senate on May 25 by a 62-to-36 margin. That was described as a "comprehensive" bill, with border security, guest-worker, and legalization provisions. It was vocally opposed as "amnesty" by many on the right. Kyl voted against it. What Kennedy and Kyl appear to have agreed on--there's no text available yet, as far as I know--answers some of the objections on the right. Guest workers will be limited to two years and will then have to return to their country of origin for one year before they can come back for another two-year stint. Family reunification will be limited, at least in some circumstances, to the immediate family--no aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents. There are trigger provisions that keep the legalization sections from coming into effect until border security is improved in certain ways. And illegal heads of household would have to return to their country of origin--"touchback"--and pay a $5,000 fine before they could receive legal status.

I share the widespread view that Rudy Giuliani and John McCain helped themselves in the Fox News debate last night. For links to many comments, see Real Clear Politics.

Both Giuliani and McCain, in different ways, defended themselves ably on stands where they differ from the Republican base. Increasingly, those stands don't look like disqualifiers. Republican voters in this cycle, like Democratic voters in the 2004 cycle, seem worried that their nominee will lose and are willing to accept a candidate they disagree with on some important issues if he seems to have electability.