When watching the recent Republican debates these past few months I am not surprised by the answers candidates give about when asked what they would do about illegal immigrants as President of the U.S. It seems that the sure way to win favor in the debates is by saying that all illegals will be driven out should they win the presidency. If any candidate shows favor towards illegal immigrants than they do not get much support during the debate. For instance, a few days ago during the latest Republican debate Texas Governor Rick Perry says that he passed a subsidized bill as Governor of Texas that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition if they met the proper requirements. Governor Perry did not get much support from the audience and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum questioned Governor Rick Perry as to why he would do such a thing and of course Senator Rick Santorum was given praise and applauses while Governor Perry was not given the same praise. Now, liberal pundits in media say how "horrible" Republican candidates are taking up the issue of illegal immigration and that voting in a Republican in 2012 would be disastrous for the Latino community especially those that are in the U.S. illegally. But let us remember that during the primaries the candidates must focus on gaining support from their core constituents. Right now during the Republican debates the candidates will do whatever it takes to win support from moderate conservatives and TEA Party conservatives, whom are the ultimate conservative base in the Republican Party. Once a primary candidate is chosen to be the Republican candidate than you will start to see the candidate go towards the "middle of the road" and not be as extreme as they were in the primaries. They will have to start working towards gaining support from the independent voters and try to win over voters from the Democratic party whom may consider switching parties if President Obama does not start to fix the economy. So to say that the Republican nominee will as extreme as they were during the primaries would be flat out wrong. Once the nominee for the Republican Party is chosen they will start to focus more on winning key swing states such as Florida and Ohio and make sure that there issues match up to winning votes.
Stay tune for my next blog on what category I believe Latino voters fall under.
