Immigration issue already hurting Rubio in Iowa

Byron York:
... 
Now, potential Republican presidential candidates are making their way to Iowa again. So far Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Scott Walker have made the trip, with Rick Santorum planning to go soon. And despite the belief in some quarters that immigration will be a less potent issue among Republican voters this time around, so far it appears to be having a serious effect on Rubio, the potential candidate most identified with the issue.

Over the weekend I emailed a number of Iowa conservatives to ask them a few general questions about the GOP field. I didn't mention immigration or any other issue; I just wanted their thoughts. What I got back, as far as Rubio was concerned, was all about immigration, and nearly all negative

"Over the last three months, Marco Rubio's name and face and voice have been so attached to the comprehensive immigration bill that it has virtually killed any enthusiasm among Republicans in Iowa for a Rubio presidential candidacy," said GOP State Central Committee member Jamie Johnson. "Most Republicans here now see Rubio as the amnesty candidate."

"Rubio seems to be so damaged it will be very difficult for him to recover here in Iowa," said Rep. Steve King. "My perspective is that the immigration issue will sort Republican candidates."

"Rubio has hurt himself immeasurably with his support of the current immigration bill," said Sioux City conservative radio host Sam Clovis. "The rule of law still trumps all the feel-good aspects of the bill."
...
York began the column by talking about how the issue hurt McCain in 2998, before he started talking tough on border security.  The issue is definitely hurting Rubio.  It is not the winner that people thought it would be after the 2012 campaign.  It is becoming clearer that the Republicans did not lose because of a lack of Hispanic support, but lost because Obama effectively suppressed the Tea Party vote.  That voter suppression is a better issue for stirring the GOP base.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more