Bilbray win in San Diego is seen as rebuff of Bush proposals on illegals

June 8, 2006

Republican Brian Bilbray in early June defeated a Democrat to win an open House seat, and credited his comeback to his tough stance on immigration, which mirrors the stern House bill that would reject any sort of amnesty for illegal aliens. Bilbray won despite having trailed his opponent in polls for weeks

Immigration conservatives called the election results a clear repudiation of the Senate bill on immigration, which would offer the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States what amounts to amnesty.

'My opponent ran on the Bush administration and the Senate’s amnesty proposal; I ran against it,' Bilbray said on San Diego's KOGO radio. 'The message ought to be that now, and here, is the time to take care of this problem. ... What don't you get about the word 'illegal?' '

The victory is a rebuke of President Bush's call for a 'guest-worker' program, which would let illegal aliens remain in the country while they apply for citizenship. Bush regularly says he opposes amnesty but has backed the Senate bill's approach to immigration, which offers a 'path to citizenship' for illegals, over the House's 'security only' proposals.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that the California election proves that 'fighting to control the border and defend the American people on illegal immigration (the House position) really works. Amnesty (the Senate bill) was clearly repudiated by Republican voters.'

Gingrich said “You’ve had one election You had a person who was for controlling the border and against amnesty; he won. In any city in the world except Washington, that would be a hint.

The White House immediately downplayed the results in California's strongly Republican 50th District, where Bilbray ran on the campaign slogan: 'Proven Tough on Illegal Immigration.'

Bilbray’s opponent, Francine Busby, easily finished first in the April nonpartisan primary, winning 44 percent of the vote, while Bilbray, a former congressman, finished second with 15 percent of the vote. In the special election, Bilbray got 48.5 percent, while Mrs. Busby bettered her share in the first round of voting by just one percentage point.

The election splashed onto front pages and flashed onto conservative Internet sites and talk radio over the weekend after Mrs. Busby took a question from a Hispanic man during a campaign event last Thursday.

'I want to help, but I don't have papers,' the man said in Spanish.

After a translation of the question, the Democrat replied, 'Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help.'

Her statement created a firestorm that drove the conservative base in the district to the polls, Gingrich said.

'There was a real danger that Republicans would stay home because they were irritated with Washington, and you'll notice the polls showed Bush at 28 percent,' he said. 'Her comments, which were caught on audiotape by a volunteer and played on talk radio, just stopped her campaign in its tracks.'

Democrats were virtually mute yesterday on the 50th District's election. It took the Democratic National Committee chairman until 4:42 p.m. to put out a statement on the loss.

Bilbray will serve out the remaining seven months in the term of former congressman Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, now in jail for taking bribes while in Congress. On the same ballot as the special election, Bilbray and Mrs. Busby won their respective primaries for the regularly scheduled two-year term and so will face off again in November.