Disagree. It certainly wasn't fool's gold for Bilbray. Health care, illegal immigration, and foreign policy will be the issues in 2008. No matter how the politicians try to spin the issue or whatever legislation is passed, it will be a case of who do you believe, the politicians/MSM or your lying eyes? Illegal immigration has metastasized throughout the country. Individual communities are taking things into their own hands. Our schools, hospitals, social welfare systems, and penal systems are being stressed to the breaking point. If we have an economic downturn, the issue will become even more visible and incendiary.
Here is a good presentation on the impact of LEGAL immigration, which has increased from 178,000 a year prior to 1965 to one million annually. Add to these numbers, 500,000 to 1 million illegal aliens annually and you have a disaster in the making.
For all his tough talk on immigration, Bilbray was going to lose a strongly Republican district, right up until Busby actually encouraged illegals to vote and help her campaign, and did it on tape.
Even so, one swallow does not a Spring make. Even if Bilbray had won solely on his immigration position, it doesn't mean the issue is worth anything anywhere else. All indications from 2006 are that no one cares about it enough to support one politician over another.
For the vast majority of voters -- including Hispanic voters, btw -- it is a merely tangential concern that they don't see affecting their lives. Their vote goes with some other issue, like Iraq or corruption or the economy.
Look, I'm not making any arguments about the merits of one immigration policy or another. I'm just saying that the issue is not the powerful political issue you want it to be.