Phony Issues Fail in Florida

Warning: the following column takes a shot at Congressman (is he still a congressman?) Tom Tancredo.

As John McCain prepares for the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, the McCain organization is preparing to welcome aboard Giuliani’s supporters here in Colorado and elsewhere.

A tsunami Wednesday of support from stalwarts of the former New York mayor however shouldn’t obscure the lesson for both parties of McCain’s primary victory in Florida last night. Phony issues to try to rally the base won’t cut it this time.

The economy and terrorism were picked by 66% of Republican primary voters as the top issues with the DEM phony issue, Iraq, and the GOP phony issue, immigration, trailing badly.  Only 16% of Republican voters cited immigration as a top issue.

“Pander, pander, pander. That’s all the two parties have done,” said one Washington political consultant. “For two years they’ve raised these phony arguments with phony cheerleaders like Tom Tancredo and Nancy Pelosi. Now they are paying the bill. It looks like the Republicans might come to their senses first.”

That’s important because the issues that have hurt Republicans are issues that are good for McCain, said our Washington insider.      

“The Arizona Senator won among those who are generally dissatisfied with President Bush,” agreed a Rasmussen Report analysis from the Sunshine state. “He won among more moderate voters and among Latino voters. All of these demographic groups represent a larger share of the general election voting pool than they do among Republican Primary voters.”

And that will present problems for the Clinton’s come November, should Hillary be the nominee.  

“Because of his immigration position — the same one that has so fouled his relationship with the Republican right — McCain has a very good shot at winning a lot of Hispanic votes,” says Dick Morris the former Democrat/Republican campaign manager. “While the Clintons have always had a genuine, if now faded, popularity with blacks, they have never been able to boast of a strong Latino base.”

Admittedly, Morris hates Hillary, but he’s essentially been making the political argument that the Inside Edge has made previously. And that is that the immigration issue is terrible issue for Republicans to run on.

And if you figure the angst about Iraq has more to do with the American public being dissatisfied with the results in Iraq rather than the war itself, then there is no such exit for the DEMs on their phony issue no matter who they nominate.