Immigration Stance Is Costly for McCain

Doing nothing about the immigration problem is "silent amnesty," Sen. John McCain (R) said in response to criticism. (By Joe Burbank -- Orlando Sentinel Via Associated Press)

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is not wavering on immigration. This week, he continued to stand firm with President Bush in seeking a Senate compromise on the issue in the face of intense opposition from core activists in the Republican Party.

His advisers refer to such a stance as one of the signatures of his political career: principled stands on tough issues.

And even they concede that, this time, it's costing him dearly.

"From a political perspective, having a candidate that takes on all the tough issues is not always the most politically expedient thing to do," said David Roederer, the chairman of McCain's campaign in Iowa. Asked what he would like to see happen on immigration, Roederer laughed and said: "Wind the clock back and forget that this issue ever came up?"

That sentiment is common among many of McCain's most ardent supporters, who admire his guts but worry about the political toll the debate is taking on their candidate.

Once seen as the inevitable Republican presidential front-runner, McCain is sinking in the polls, particularly in the all-important early-primary states. On conservative talk radio, he is lumped together with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and derided endlessly. His stance on immigration is making life ever more difficult for his fundraisers. He is expected to again lag behind rivals in money raised when the quarter ends on Saturday.

McCain's staff has sought to make a virtue of what appears to be an anchor on his political fortunes. In an e-mail to supporters on Monday, campaign manager Terry Nelson said that McCain "is running for president not to do what is easy. He is running to do the hard but necessary things to protect our country from harm and to fix the challenges that we face as a nation now, not later."

The next day, McCain canceled some critical fundraising events to participate in a key vote on the bill. And he is isolated on the front lines of the country's debate over illegal immigration -- alone among Republican presidential candidates, the rest of whom oppose the overhaul of the nation's border-control laws.

It is a particularly difficult predicament for a Republican candidate looking for votes in Iowa and South Carolina, two states with early presidential contests next year. In both states, anger over the bill -- and McCain's backing of it -- runs deep.

"Iowa being quite conservative, very conservative, I think there are some who just want to get rid of [illegal immigrants], send them back, put up a double wall," said Nelson P. Crabb, the mayor of Clear Lake and a McCain supporter. "That's impractical. But I think the general feeling of people here in Iowa is 'Gee, they shouldn't be here.' "

In three recent Mason-Dixon polls in Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, McCain was mired in fourth place with less than 10 percent of the vote among likely Republican voters. Brad Coker, who runs Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, said McCain's position on immigration is a key to his slump.

"With the grass-roots party voters, the people who participate in primaries and caucuses, they are not really thrilled with any kind of amnesty," Coker said, referring to the conservatives' favored description of the reform bill. Coker said 40 percent of GOP voters ranked immigration as their No. 1 or No. 2 issue.