Washington DC (September 25, 2007) - The 2008 presidential election is only 13 months away. As it stands right now, the Democrats look invincible with Hillary Clinton as the undisputed candidate. By contrast, the situation for the Republicans is very gloomy. No candidate has the wide and solid support of the conservative electorate. Not Rudy Giuliani with his abortion position, not Fred Thompson with his emptiness of ideas, not John McCain with his Gang of 14 image, and not Mitt Romney with his Mormon heritage. On top of that, the Republicans have unknowingly but willingly committed a terminal political suicide by pushing the immigration issue with an extremely harsh, bruising and unnecessary rhetoric toward the Hispanic population. They argue that the illegal Hispanic aliens do not vote Republican anyway, but they forget how this rhetoric has killed the last reason for the legal Hispanic electorate to vote Republican in 2008. They do not realize how much empathy the Hispanic-Americans feel for their cultural-related immigrants, legal or not. The numbers speak for themselves. The Hispanic vote for Republican has been hovering around 30 % for most of the last two decades: 32% in 1988 (George H. Bush), 28% in 1992 (George H. Bush), 21% in 1996 (Bob Dole). Only George W. Bush with his compassionate conservatism was able to increase the Hispanic vote to 35% in 2000 and surprisingly to 40% in 2004. So, what was the Hispanic vote for Republican at the 2006 mid-term in the midst of the Republican immigration rhetoric? A measly 29% and no cure in sight!
