This isn't really news, in the sense that it's happened over and over again in elections across the country, but in case you've forgotten, it's still the case that being an anti-immigrant demagogue isn't an electoral winner.
The cooling down of immigration as a hot election-year issue is backed up by recent polls.Roughly one in 10 Harris County voters identified immigration as the most important issue in determining his or her vote in the general election, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Houston Chronicle. The poll, conducted by Zogby International, found immigration was far more important among GOP voters, with 20 percent of Republicans ranking it as their top issue -- compared with 3 percent of Democrats.
In the Chronicle poll, 35 percent of those surveyed name the economy as their most important issue. Fifteen percent named the war in Iraq, and 11 percent said health care.