Issue of Illegal Immigration Is Quandary for Democrats

But noting that many African Americans, a strongly Democratic group, oppose creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, they wrote "this is a real wedge issue that Democrats need to get right."

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The complexity was underscored last month, when Democratic Rep.-elect Nikki Tsongas, wife of the late senator and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, barely won a special election for a Democratic-leaning congressional seat in Massachusetts after her opponent focused on illegal immigration, particularly Tsongas's backing of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

At a September forum in Miami hosted by the Latino television network Univision, Dodd, Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) were all sharply questioned about why they had voted in Congress to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.

All three noted their support for broader rights for Latino immigrants, both legal and illegal, but they said tighter border security is important.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the only Hispanic in the Democratic presidential field, called the idea of a border fence "a terrible symbol."

But unlike the Republicans, who have been very specific in how they would fight illegal immigration, the Democrats have said little except when asked about the issue, not addressing the most explosive elements, such as whether to build a fence on the southern U.S. border or to give immigrants sanctuary in urban areas.

"Any Democrat who tried to use immigration as a wedge issue would find themselves without much of a constituency in the party," Penn said, explaining why it has not been a hot topic in the Democratic nominating contest.

Democratic strategists remain hopeful that the GOP's anti-illegal immigration rhetoric will hurt them among Latinos, a growing electoral group, 44 percent of whom voted for Bush in 2004, a number Democrats hope to shrink. The Republican contenders have skipped several forums hosted by Latino groups during the campaign.

After Tuesday's debate, a group of Democratic strategists moved to tamp growing fears among party candidates across the country, warning them not to duck the issue and coaching them on how to defuse the topic in a conference aimed at next week's off-year elections in Virginia and Arizona.

Former Clinton aide Simon Rosenberg, head of NDN, a Democratic think tank, said that despite Clinton's answer and Spitzer's problems in New York, Democrats will win the argument if they show they have a "big vision."

"The way this is going to be fought out is not over isolated incidents like this, but whether there are leaders in this country who have a big vision to solving a vexing problem," Rosenberg said. "Every Democrat in this country is for comprehensive immigration reform. The Republicans have a different position that doesn't poll as well: orienting themselves toward complaining instead of solving the problem."

Staff writer Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.