Some in the new breed of Democrats sound tough on immigration

October 28, 2006

Some Democratic who ran for Congress are sound a lot like Republicans.

In Arizona, one of the House's most ardent illegal- immigrant foes, Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth, appears to have lost to a Democratic opponent who criticized him for not doing enough to stop the flow of immigrants into the United States.

"The number of illegal immigrants in our state has increased 400 percent during his tenure in Congress," said an ad for Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell.

During the midyear election campaign, illegal immigration emerged as a national issue and permeated more places, and Democrats joined Republicans in trying to show a tough stand against it.

"Both parties have split personalities on immigration," said John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. "That's because the public is of two minds. Hispanics oppose restrictive immigration laws. So do many business owners because they need cheap labor. On the other side, many other Americans want tighter laws because they see a cultural and economic threat."

A poll released last week by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that advocates lower levels of immigration, found that about 20 percent of all likely voters favored a "large-scale roundup and deportation" of illegal immigrants.

But Goeas said the top three issues motivating the Republican base do not include immigration. The number one issue was the "war on terrorism," followed by concern over higher taxes and fears of Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, he said.

And then there was Indiana. Democrats in the state's 8th District had long viewed Brad Ellsworth, a charismatic local sheriff who calls himself a 'conservative Democrat,' as their best chance of unseating incumbent Republican John Hostettler.

The new Congressman favors gun rights, says he would have voted for a Republican enforcement-oriented immigration bill, opposes abortion rights and is against setting a withdrawal date from Iraq. But he also favors allowing prescription drug reimportation from Canada, backs implementing all recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission, opposes allowing private investment of Social Security funds and is critical of Republican energy policies.

Ellsworth prevailed, He defeated his opponent, the incumbent Rep. John Hostettler by just under 31,000 votes. In his acceptance speech, Ellsworth thanked Hostettler for those years of service, before turning his attention to his family.

He then addressed the crowd, thanking them for putting him in office, and stating the chair he was elected to truly belonged to the voters.

Ellsworth spoke of how he drove around the 8th District listening to the people.

"You want a country that is making friends in the world not making more enemies," Ellsworth said. "American jobs belong in America and that's where we need to keep them."

Ellsworth had some words of advice for ISU students Tuesday night.

"Just find out what your strengths are and set some goals," Ellsworth said. "If someone had told me when I was in college I was going to be a congressman, I would have called them all kinds of liars."