Posted on 10/14/2006 5:36:22 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
Senate Candidates Divided On Immigration Issue
The two candidates for U.S. Senate find themselves on opposite sides of the battle over immigration reform.
Republican Katherine Harris is attacking incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson, saying he wants to give a free ride to citizenship for people living in this country illegally.
A recent survey shows illegal immigration is a top concern among Florida voters, WESH 2 News reported
In fact, more voters said they're worried more about immigration than they are about terrorism or the war in Iraq.
Willie Telismon said he doesn't mind grueling work. Picking fruit pays little, but he said he's proud to say he's received his immigrant working papers after coming to this country illegally.
More than 800,000 illegal immigrants are working in Florida, mostly in low-paying jobs.
Even for those who attain U.S. citizenship, the process can take two or more years.
Demonstrators who have marched in protest of current immigration laws are demanding citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
"We just want to have the American dream like everyone else," said Elias Piccard, who marched in a recent rally.
"We just want to be treated fairly. We want to be treated like humans. And sometimes we're not," Adriana Ortiz said.
Illegal immigrants are committing themselves to hard work, but a new study shows they're costing Florida taxpayers more than $4 billion per year in health care, education and other social programs. Another study shows only half pay taxes.
Harris voted for the U.S. House bill that proposes building a fence along the Mexican border and holding employers criminally liable if they hire illegal aliens. Nelson supports a plan passed by the Senate that would give some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, but he does not call that amnesty.
"You take a portion of those and you send them back, but a portion of them that are needed for the labor supply, they can't have a criminal record, they have to pay back taxes and fines, they have to learn English, and they have to have a full-time job of employment," he said.
"We differ strongly on that point. The bill that he supports, tens of millions of new citizens would come into our country. Tens of millions. Up to 100 million new citizens. And at a cost of $50 billion annually in social services alone," Harris said. "Those are dollars that our taxpayers, everyday citizens are incurring for an act against our law."
It is an important decision for voters. No compromise bill has been forged, and whoever wins the Senate race next month will play an important role in deciding which immigration law is passed.
It's an easy choice, WESH 2 political reporter Greg Fox reported. If you're a hard-liner on illegal immigration, Harris may be your candidate. If citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants is OK with you, Nelson might be your choice.
Why the hell didn't Jeb Bush run? She wouldn't have run against HIS NAME RECOGNITION! He could have resigned for some reason allowing Crist to appoint his successor (though I'm sure you really despise the fact that Crist is running!!!).
Coulda, woulda, shoulda is pointless!
I think she is going to do a close to the election TV/newspaper blitz. It would seem it is the only option that she has now.
Everyone elses waited to see if she was going to be supported or replaced by a real candidate, when the end of qualifying came up, and neither happened, a couple no-names threw their hats in. She beat 3 no-names in the primaries, and not by a hell of alot overall.
I was asking what the NAME of the person is. I wanted to contrast that person's political stance with that of Harris to evaluate whether such a person is worth electing.
Here in Kalifornia we have the very electable Arnold. If the economy hadn't recovered, Arnold would have been recalled just like his predecessor Davis, and for the same reason; that the state would be plummeting into bankruptcy.
Baloney. If you don't have the will to run, you don't have it. Has nothing to do with Harris "scaring" the other candidates and everything to do with the other candidates themselves too chicken to enter the race.
The Republican party at the state and national level told her she would get killed, as the polls are now indicating
So...why didn't they field a good candidate against her in the primary if they know she's going to get "killed?" Again I ask - Bense, Franks, Jeb...WHY THE HECK DIDN'T THEY RUN???
She obviously cares more about selfish desires than to see a conservative Republican as Florida Senator.
Hello - she IS a conservative Republican. You're not going to get a better conservative Republican than Harris for this race.
Her selfishness could be the difference between Harry Reid being the Majority leader or the Minority leader.
Ain't gonna happen because Nelson is the incumbent and the GOP establishment has already figured in a possible Harris loss into the majority equation. So your point is moot.
None of the above is arguable. What good is support when nothing the candidate believes matters because she has absolutely no chance of winning and fighting to institute those beliefs.
More FL MSM talking points. She won her primary fair and square you simply can't refute that.
Sorry, if you're serious about running for a Senate seat, you don't "sit back" and worry about who's endorsing who and who's running. YOU FRICKING RUN, and disregard all the mumbo-jumbo about Harris and concentrate ON YOUR CANDIDACY.
She beat 3 no-names in the primaries, and not by a hell of alot overall.
This isn't horseshoes or hand grenades. A victory is a victory is a victory.
She did that already when Martinez wanted the seat in 2002. So she should just kow-tow to the establishment again?
Is Harris a rebellious teen or something and the GOP is her parents?
A victory over 3 nobodies doesn't equal a victory against an established sitting senator, though, whith Katherine will find out in a few weeks.
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