Delegates Slam Perry on Immigration

Politico: Rick Perry hit a roadblock on immigration at Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll on Saturday. An issue that may have less impact in other early-state Republican primaries, immigration is a hot-button issue in Florida — and Perry’s botched attempt to explain his policies back home in Texas during Thursday’s Fox News debate has soured conservative activists here on him. In interview after interview as they filed out of the Orange County Convention Center hall where votes were cast, delegates pointed to his support for a state-based version of the DREAM Act — which provides in-state tuition rates to some illegal immigrants — and his denouncement of those who disagree as lacking “a heart.” “I looked at my wife when he said that and said, ‘I think he may have just lost,’ … because it was making it personal to a lot of Republicans,” Florida State Rep. Scott Plakon said of the debate answer. “His stances on immigration and [mandating the HPV vaccine], I actually think he could have gotten around that. But saying that you don’t have a heart if you disagree on such an issue like that was a very poor choice of words. I know a lot of the Republicans here were offended by it.” Plakon decided to support former pizza baron Herman Cain, who won an upset victory with more votes than the next two finishers, Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, combined. Several delegates said Perry needed to give a better explanation for the policy, as well as his opposition to a fence along the Texas-Mexico border. And Perry’s decision to frame the issue with the kind of language more typically used by liberals repulsed some base voters. “I considered Perry until he said we don’t have a heart,” said Joe Burk from Orlando, who voted for Romney. “We can get that liberal guilt trip stuff from someone else.” Immigration is particularly potent in Florida politics. Florida Gov. Rick Scott won an upset victory in the GOP primary last year after attacking state Attorney General Bill McCollum for his more moderate stances. “Perry buried himself with the immigration issue,” said Mary Ellen Crowder, a delegate from Palm Harbor who voted for Cain after coming to the debate torn between him, Perry and Rick Santorum. “If they’re illegal, they need to get the hell out of America.” During Thursday’s debate, Perry said: “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart. We need to be educating these children, because they will become a drag on our society.” His competitors quickly seized on the line. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann emailed her list to highlight the comment. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said during a speech here Friday that people who oppose Perry have “a heart and a brain.” The pendulum has swung significantly since then-President George W. Bush passed comprehensive immigration reform and then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush backed driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for example, took a much harder line on the issue last year than he had during his 2008 presidential campaign to head off a tough primary challenge from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Hard-liners stress that they are not against immigration, just against coddling those who illegally enter the country. Kathy Gibson, a co-founder of the Eastern Orlando Tea Party, said her son-in-law’s family played by the rules when they immigrated from Poland. “If we’re going to have safety nets, we need safety nets for people in this country legally,” said Gibson, a 61-year-old delegate who supported Rick Santorum. “When [Perry] said he had passed the mini-American DREAM Act, that was enough.” Debbie Besselievre, a 53-year-old Cain supporter who co-founded the same tea party group with her, expressed deep concern about Perry’s immigration record. “We’ve seen some charts and schematics on what’s going to happen to our country if we don’t get a handle on the immigration thing,” she said. “It will kill this country.” Many who voted for Perry still have concerns. “The only problem I have with Perry, probably, is immigration,” said Luz Gonzales, a delegate from the Miami-Dade area.“He understands there’s a humane issue and a security issue. He needs to focus more on the security issue … We have to be humane about the whole issue.” Perry supporter Dell Wade, of Sarasota, said that the immigration answers in the debate really harmed him, but that he has seen the candidate offer a better defense in television interviews. “Perry fumbled that one. He dropped the ball big time,” Wade said. “He did explain it well in an interview he had on television … he was lucid. He just made the point with clarity.” Meanwhile, before the votes were cast, activists said the issue will continue to dog Perry until he explains it coherently. “In a time of fiscal austerity it seems a little tough to give away that kind of money,” Kevin McNevin, of Sarasota, said at a breakfast the Perry campaign threw for delegates Saturday morning. “He needs to improve his debating skills a little bit and he needs to straighten out the issue of how he deals with benefits of government monies to illegals…he needs to come up with a more satisfactory answer.”