The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

A few months ago, the conventional wisdom was that immigration would be the big issue of the 2006 races. Then the GOP found that not all of their members are in the same page. President Bush has put forth a plan that would allow a guest worker program, which some of the GOP activist base find abhorrent. Senators McCain and Kennedy have introduced a bill that would not only have guest workers, but would allow them to work towards citizenship. Senator Sam Brownback is supporting this legislation.

Brownback finds himself in the company of unusual allies on this issue. Many Democrats are also supporting the McCain / Kennedy bill and many GOP activists consider it unacceptable.

I think Brownback is in dangerous territory with his activist base. It is hard to know where the religious right falls on the issue, but by supporting this bill he would certainly lose the support of the most hardcore republican activists. I am sure Brownback will attempt to play this off as a compassionate conservative issue, but the climate for debate on immigration inside the GOP is so poisonous at this point any decision is likely to cause some flak.