California special election a warning to Democrats on immigration

Voters in California's 48th Congressional District went to the polls last Tuesday to fill the U.S. House seat being vacated by Republican Chris Cox. As expected in this predominately GOP district, two Republicans State Senator John Campbell and former State Assemblyman Marilyn Brewer were the two top vote getters in a seventeen candidate contest for the Congressional seat. The big suprise was the strong third place finish of American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen, running on a single issue platform of halting illegal immigration. Gilchrist received 14.8 percent of the vote - well ahead of the top Democratic vote getter Steve Young who got 8.7 percent of the vote and only 2.3 percent behind Brewer, the runner up. In fact, Gilchrist nearly outpolled all Democratic candidates in the contest - the two other Democrats in the race split slightly over 7 percent.
Of course, the 48th District based in Orange County is well known as a traditionally Republican area where Democrats are outnumbered in party registration by an almost 2 to 1 margin. Despite the Republican edge, it is certainly a sign of the disarray within the Democratic Party when a candidate of the tiny American Independent Party (seldom heard from since George Wallace's 1968 Presidential candidacy) is able to outpoll the strongest Democratic contender in a Congressional race. Gilchrist, a retired accountant who gained recognition through media coverage of his Minutemen border patrol activities, kept hammering away at the illegal immigration issue and apparently found a responsive chord with the voters. A run-off of the five finalists will be held on December 6. Campbell who led in the October 4 balloting is expected to prevail, but Gilchrist has demonstrated how a hot button issue like illegal immigration can propel even the poorly funded candidate of a moribund third party into becoming a significant electoral force.
Democrats need to recognize that illegal immigration is going to be a big issue and get on the right side of the fence. The Bush Administration and the Republican leadership in Congress have failed miserably to protect our borders, however, political correctness and false assumptions about what is good for the Democratic Party have kept Democrats from effectively addressing the issue. A Center for Immigration Studies report documented how workers at the low end of the wage scale - often Hispanic or African American - are the hurt the most by the influx of illegal aliens. Undocumented workers suppress the wage scale and hurt lower income American workers. A June survey by the Pew Center found a division of opinion among Hispanics over the impact of illegal aliens. We need to recognize that illegal immigration does not benefit working and middle class Americans - instead it is a subsidy to big business. A lack of border security is an open invitation to terrorism.
Democrats must take the lead in protecting America's borders - the actions of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to direct state resources toward securing the border with Mexico is a good first step. We need to demand that Congress enact and enforce laws that will punish businesses who continue to hire undocumented workers, require that all local, state and goverment agencies share information concerning the presence of illegals and cooperate with enforcement agents, ban all forms of public assistance to illegals and encourage citizens to report illegals to the authorities. If illegal aliens cannot find employment or public assistance, most will simply go back to their home country. We need to be pro-legal immigration and anti-illegal immigration.