In an interview on CNN this morning, Brian Bilbray was asked why he won. His response, was that he went full force in opposition to Bush's immigration policy in the last week of the election. By attacking Bush's program as amnesty and stating that if he was elected he would fight against the Bush and the Senate's immigration reform proposal, that is when he saw his numbers move (I assume he is talking about his internal campaign polling numbers).
I actually agree with Bilbray's analysis of his own victory. In addition to Francine Busby's "You don't need papers to participate" comment, McCain not coming to the district for Bilbray probably played to his advantage in the end. Immigration may become in this election what the "Gay Marriage" issue was in 2004 - and it has the added advantage of helping Republicans distance themselves from Bush in a year where their President is unpopular.
I think Democrats in areas where immigration is a hot-button issue need to learn from this race that they can not support the Bush/Senate proposal whole-heartedly or they will be giving their Republican opponents a key to winning the election. Especially in certain border areas such as metropolitan San Diego, where the Busby-Bilbray race was fought, Democrats need to be careful as to how they address immigration reform.
All this almost makes me think that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of Republicans to find an issue that will give them enough distance from the President so that they can claim independence, but tie Democrats to the President on the same issue. But they aren't THAT clever... are they?
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