Red-state senators feel the heat of a fiery immigration debate

Two GOP lawmakers, South Carolina's Graham and Arizona's Kyl, take a calculated risk in backing the Senate bill.

from the June 4, 2007 edition

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Brett Mecum, spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party, says that from May 21 through May 25 his office received 1,600 calls from Republicans threatening to tear up their membership cards and join other parties. In 12 years in the business, says Mr. Mecum, he's "never seen people try to walk away from the party, this irate over one single issue, as last week here." That volume of calls led Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, to call a press conference to say that the Arizona GOP opposes the proposed law.

"Our research shows that [Kyl and Graham] are delusional if they think that the Republican base, the conservative base, is happy with that bill," says Matt Towery, CEO of Insider Advantage, a nonpartisan polling firm in Atlanta. "I think they're trying to talk themselves into believing that, but it's not working."Adds Mr. Towery, "Will certain Republicans lose a percentage of their core base over this? At least temporarily, yes. Will it make them more vulnerable? Yes."

So why are they doing it?

Graham, for one, seems to take pride on breaking deadlocks in Congress. He earlier joined 14 senators who angered part of the GOP base by breaking a stalemate over appointments to judgeships.

Graham votes the conservative position about 90 percent of the time. But, up for reelection in 2008, he's taking a "big political risk" by bucking his supporters on this issue, says Hastings Wyman, editor of the Southern Political Report in Washington.

At an appearance Friday at a farmer's market where bused-in supporters outnumbered actual voters, Graham acknowledged the bill is "an emotional issue," but added, "If you say no and walk away, you're putting the country at risk."

He called the bill a "plea bargain" with people in the US illegally, "giving them a chance to come out of the shadows." At the same time, he said, the bill includes fines and a waiting period for citizenship that can be as long as 18 years. Though fellow South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R) is threatening a filibuster, Graham predicted the bill would clear this week, with changes.

Graham "believes in the silent majority that understands the current system is chaos," says spokesman Kevin Bishop.South Carolina agribusiness stands behind Graham, says Farm Bureau representative Thompson Smith. Mr. Smith calls Graham "a great statesman in the tradition of John Calhoun," willing to rise above popular opinion to make unpopular, but correct, decisions.But some at the farmer's market vented open disgust, though not at Graham personally. Any shade of "amnesty" is unacceptable, says Patricia Johnson, a Greenville beautician shopping for flowers. "This isn't the Lindsey Graham that I voted for," she says.

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