Arizona Race Tests a Hard Line on Immigration

Initially moderate on immigration, he shifted to oppose a guest-worker program and favor the deportation of all illegal immigrants. He published "Whatever It Takes" this year with blurbs from conservative stalwarts Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham.

Hayworth, in a chapter called "Overrun," calls President Bush "disturbingly vague and indecisive" on immigration, a hot topic in Arizona, which is a major transit point for illegal border crossings.

The deaths of immigrants in the desert are tragic, he writes, but they "do not, however, demonstrate why we have to reform our immigration laws. They demonstrate why we have to enforce our immigration laws. If our border with Mexico were sealed, as it should be, no illegal border crossers would be dying in the desert."

After listening to a lively early-morning speech in Phoenix to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Margo Kwasnoski agreed with Hayworth's hard line.

"I come from a Mexican background, but I agree," said Kwasnoski, an insurance company worker. "A lot of people see it as a racist issue, but I see it as security."

The Senate-passed immigration bill, Hayworth said, is a "hodgepodge of ill-advised measures" that would necessitate the "mother of all bureaucracies" to monitor immigrants. "The guest workers of today," he warned, "will be the illegals of tomorrow."

Mitchell, however, believes that many Republican moderates in the district feel more generous toward illegal immigrants, and he backs the middle ground favored by Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). He describes their approach with words such as "sensible" and "realistic."

"I think he really believes that's going to be his ticket," Mitchell said of Hayworth over Mexican food one recent afternoon. "I think he's out of touch with his district on [immigration policy]. He's out of touch with the state on it."

Mitchell, a former Tempe mayor and Arizona Democratic Party chairman who beat a two-term Republican incumbent in 1999 to win a seat in the Arizona Senate, is admired as an approachable and effective leader in the city, which is home to Arizona State University. The impressionistic statue shows him as a man tall enough to see the city's future -- a visionary.

But because Tempe forms only about one-third of the House district, he must win converts among Republicans and independents in Scottsdale, Mesa and parts of Phoenix and its environs. He is trying to link Hayworth to what he considers failures of the Republican leadership, including the "fiscal irresponsibility" of the soaring federal budget deficit and the "ineptness" of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Mitchell, who taught high school civics for nearly three decades, said he helped approve 31 balanced budgets in Tempe and the state Senate. On Iraq, he decried the decision to invade with what he called too few troops, insufficient protection and no plan. Congress should have asked more questions and, after the administration began the war, made sure the troops were protected, Mitchell said.

"He's been there the whole time," Mitchell said of Hayworth. "I don't think people want more of the same."

Hayworth said the race will be tough because Mitchell is getting backing from national Democrats. But he predicted victory and dissed Mitchell by saying "he doesn't really stand up on issues."

A potential vulnerability of Hayworth's, according to de Burgh of the Rocky Mountain Poll, is his connection to the Abramoff scandal. Hayworth used sports skyboxes that Abramoff billed to clients, but he failed to report their use to the Federal Election Commission until the criminal investigation of Abramoff, since convicted, became public.

Joe Eule, Hayworth's chief of staff, later confirmed that the congressman had fundraisers in the skyboxes. His campaign committee repaid $12,800 to the Choctaw and Chitimacha for use of the suites five times. Both tribes were Abramoff clients. Hayworth, whose district once included a significant Indian population, said large contributions from tribes made sense.

"I was co-chair of the Native American Caucus. Of course tribes would step up, because I've stepped up for them," Hayworth said in an interview. Of Abramoff, who contributed $2,250 to his previous campaigns, he said: "I met him socially I think twice. He has never come to my office."