And what if the city still refuses to abide by federal laws? How much federal funding do cities, as opposed to states, get from the federal government? If the state has a governor who is sympathetic to the scofflaw city, he will see to it that more state funds flow there to compensate.
It's one thing when a Rep. like Trancredo offers up legislation to cut off funding to scofflaw cities when that is what he has the power to do in his position in Congress but it's laughably weak for a president to make such an insignificant proposal.
Oops, make that Tancredo. Tancredo should be able to score points from this by pointing out that Fred's presidential proposal is to do what he's already done from his weak position of power in Congress.
If immigration is a hot button issue, we don't want Fred as our nominee. He was joined at the hip with Spencer Abraham who except for Ted Kennedy was the biggest enemy of immigration sanity. Diane Feinstein will campaign for the Democrats against Thompson's weak immigration record and she will have the authority to do since Thompson voted with Abraham against her amendment to reduce chain migration.
The "listen to what I say now, not how I voted back then" plea will not fly and it will undermine his "look how I voted on abortion, not how I lobbied for abortionists" argument.