Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARC SANTORA
New York Times
CORAL GABLES, Fla., Dec. 9 — In front of what will probably be their most pro-immigration audience, Republican candidates toned down their rhetoric but told Spanish-language television viewers in a debate on Sunday that they would take strong measures to close off the country’s borders to illegal immigration.
The candidates were forced into a difficult balancing act by the debate, broadcast on Univision, as they tried to offend neither the Hispanic audience nor the Republican base many of them have tried to appeal to by taking a hard line on illegal immigration. The topic has led to some of the fiercest rhetoric in past debates.
Most of the seven candidates took a softer tone on Sunday, even as many spoke of working to eradicate illegal immigration. Some spoke of trying to send some of the 12 million people who are estimated to be in the United States illegally back to their native countries.
They sandwiched their remarks between gauzy paeans to legal immigration and the values of immigrants.
The debate, less than a month before the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire cast the first ballots, came as the battle to the Republican presidential nomination assumed greater intensity and uncertainty. Candidates found themselves fending off attacks on their records, and a shifting field threatened to throw some campaign strategies into disarray.
The sudden rise of Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who was hardly considered a factor a month ago, has shaken up the race and thrust him into the center of controversies.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
CORAL GABLES, Fla., Dec. 9 — In front of what will probably be their most pro-immigration audience, Republican candidates toned down their rhetoric but told Spanish-language television viewers in a debate on Sunday that they would take strong measures to close off the country’s borders to illegal immigration.
The candidates were forced into a difficult balancing act by the debate, broadcast on Univision, as they tried to offend neither the Hispanic audience nor the Republican base many of them have tried to appeal to by taking a hard line on illegal immigration. The topic has led to some of the fiercest rhetoric in past debates.
Most of the seven candidates took a softer tone on Sunday, even as many spoke of working to eradicate illegal immigration. Some spoke of trying to send some of the 12 million people who are estimated to be in the United States illegally back to their native countries.
They sandwiched their remarks between gauzy paeans to legal immigration and the values of immigrants.
The debate, less than a month before the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire cast the first ballots, came as the battle to the Republican presidential nomination assumed greater intensity and uncertainty. Candidates found themselves fending off attacks on their records, and a shifting field threatened to throw some campaign strategies into disarray.
The sudden rise of Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who was hardly considered a factor a month ago, has shaken up the race and thrust him into the center of controversies.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home