Va. GOP Seizes on 'Red-Hot' Concern

Across the country, Republicans are trying to woo Hispanic voters, a fast-growing group that helped reelect President Bush, who won a historically high 40 percent of its vote in 2004.

That support faltered last year when the Republican share of the Hispanic vote dipped to 30 percent after the GOP-controlled Congress considered a bill that would have substantially boosted border security.

Michael Thompson, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank based in Fairfax, said: "Immigration can be an issue, but is a short-term victory this fall worth long-terms problems for the party? Look at what happened in California. The Republican Party became known as the mean-spirited, anti-immigration party and went from success to failure almost overnight."

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group, predicted this year's Republican immigration proposals in Virginia would also go awry.

"It's crazy. We are watching slow-motion political suicide," Sharry said. "They are reaching for it out of desperation . . . but it's more likely to backfire than work."

Del. Thomas Davis Rust (R-Fairfax), who is running for reelection, disagreed. "The federal government has failed miserably, so people are looking for the next level of government to fix it," he said.

Staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this report.