Republicans, Immigration, and the General Election

The BBC recently reported that Hispanics registered to vote favor Democrats over Republicans 57% to 23%. This is in contrast to the 2004 election, when Bush won 44% of the Hispanic vote. Bush's 2004 campaign ran ads in Spanish criticizing Kerry's social views and drew many socially conservative Hispanics into the Republican camp. It appears that Hispanics, however, have abandoned the GOP, given the intensity of the immigration debate. Most Republican candidates during the recent Univision debate found themselves in a tight spot, trying not to alienate Hispanic voters but at the same time attempting to remain true to their conservative base. It will be interesting to see whether the lack of Hispanic turnout for the GOP will have a measurable effect on Republican performance in the general election. Their large presence in some swing states, such as Florida, indicates that it may.

The Future of the Presidency

The Freak Show lives. Just ask:

• Mike Huckabee
• Rudy Giuliani
• Mitt Romney
• Barack Obama

As Halperin and Harris point out, Senator Clinton can raise a great deal of money but has special problems:

• Weak candidate skills
• Bill
• Bill

Libby drops appeal case

A Politico.com article reports that today Scooter Libby dropped his appeal case probably hoping to pressure the White House into a pardon. Libby's lawyer attributes the development to high expenses and a long time frame for results. As a lame duck president, Bush is unfortunately more than likely to pardon the four felony counts in his last days in office. Not that Libby will ever have to serve jail time (thanks to Bush's grant of clemency), he just wants his (obviously guilty) record cleared.

Here for the official statement by Libby's lawyer.

CIA Destroys Tapes

Bush is under fire from congress and reporters who are looking for answers about tapes that were destroyed by the CIA. Bush is maintaining his position that he did not know about the tapes or their destruction before he was briefed about them on Thursday. The tapes were allegedly the tapings of interrogations of two suspected terrorists. One of the detainee's lawyers is pointing to a 2005 court order which required the government to "preserve and maintain all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees." full story

Crossed Wires

A teenager from Iceland claims that he reached a private White House phone line while pretending to be the president of his country. If so, he would not be the first ordinary person to get through. On May 14, 1965, a Denver couple accidentally interrupted a call between LBJ and Abe Fortas. Story and audio here.

Interesting Take on Romney's Speech

Maureen Dowd wrote a column in today's New York Times comparing Romney's speech last week to JFK's speeches regarding his Catholicism. While many people have drawn strong comparisons between Romney and Kenendy, Dowd argues that Romney's speech was quite different because he is trying to appeal to the religious right, while Kennedy was trying to assure the voters that his religion would not be a major factor in his presidency.

Click here for the article.

Habeas Wrapup, Huck Oppo, the Future of the Presidency

In class, I promised more information on the writ of habeas corpus and "court-stripping." Click the links for that information.

See Geoff's post below on Huckabee's "Welcome to the NFL" experience, which is now happening with considerable fury:

• LA Times headline: "Parole officials: Huckabee pushed rapist's release."
• AP headline: "Huckabee Wanted to Isolate AIDS Patients."

In class this week, we shall consider the following questions:

• Who will be the next president?
• What legacy will Bush leave to his successor?
• How are changes in economics, technology, and international relations likely to affect the institution?