Do Congressmen even accept letters anymore, since the anthrax scare? Christopher Shays of Connecticut does not.
I don't have a particular "hit list", although Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee, Sam Brownback and Bill Frist all would be on it if I did for supporting some sort of amnesty/guest worker or only moderate increases in border control, in a year when we need to be focusing on getting a fence approved for the entire length of the border.
I don't really think that targeting Congressmen and Senators outside of your own district has much impact. (In truth, I don't even think that targeting your own representatives has much impact period, except in an election year.)
Still, Republicans need to turn up the heat and volume on their OWN elected officials, both parties, within their own districts, telling them "No amnesty this year, a full fence this year, only."
SOME Democrats might even exploitatively jump on that bandwagon (Hillary Clinton pretends to have), and that's GOOD because it puts Republicans who want amnesty or who are hoping the status quo will survive in a more impossible situation.
Contact your own Congressmen and Senators - Democrat or Republican - and make it clear, even if it falls on deaf ears they will at least HEAR it and sense the trend. If the Dems game the border fence like Hillary is, it forces Republicans to the right.
Republicans across the board need to know that if there is amnesty and no border fence this year, they're going down as the majority party too. DEMOCRATS need to know that too, so that THEY are tempted to either get out in front of Republicans on the fence...which gets the fence...or are tempted to obstruct more loudly, which puts Republicans who won't vote for the fence in a more politically impossible pro-Democrat position.
Focus on your own Congressmen and Senators, the ones you can vote for. Tell them what to do. Tell them that you will not vote for them if they don't. Tell them that the Republican Party is going to lose Congress if the Party itself does not enforce discipline.
The polls are saying it.
If you want to write, you say the same thing.
Oh, and go ahead and target John McCain, particularly. He wants to be President. Dangle the idea that you can get on his friends list (so the fundraisers will start funding you) if he will pull his head out of his ass and support a fence but shut up about amnesty this year, otherwise he can forget about your vote or money ever.
They're not always honest with you.
You don't have to be completely honest with them either.