Politico: For a moment Wednesday afternoon in Miami, Mitt Romney seemed to have a solution to his Hispanic problem: Was he not, Univisions Jorge Ramos asked, Mexican-American himself, as his father had been born south of the border?
Romney confessed his parents were American citizens who never spoke Spanish.
"I don't think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American," Romney said, adding that he'd still be grateful if Ramos put the word out.
Romney needs a better answer, and though he did his best in South Florida to project a soft line on illegal immigrants and a hard line on Fidel Castro who he suggested would go to hell, he has dug himself a deep hole. Hispanic activists in both parties told POLITICO they are stunned by how far right Romney has moved in the past two months, and think he will have a hard time coming back.
"As for Romney, immigration and the Hispanic vote, put a fork in him. He's done, cooked, burnt," said Frank Sharry, the founder and executive director of the Democratic group America's Voice. Sharry said Democrats would have had reason to fear an immigration moderate with strong Hispanic credentials like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who recently warned his party to moderate its tone on immigration.
But the former Massachusetts governor, he argued, finds himself in an impossible position. What can Romney do? If he flip-flops in the general, he'll piss off his new hard-liner friends on the right and underscore his flip-flopping reputation; he stays hard right and [angers] the fastest growing voter bloc in the country.
Some Republicans have come around to the same opinion.
"Romney has done himself some real damage," said Ana Navarro, a Florida Republican who has advised John McCain and Jeb Bush. "Romney has now thrown Obama a lifesaver on the issue. It's been stupid and unnecessary. He could have been more nuanced and left himself room to maneuver."
"Immigration is not most the important issue for Hispanics, but it definitely sets a tone," she said.
The Hispanic community, indeed, is one place where Romney has failed to line up the support of the Republican establishment. Navarro backed Huntsman. Lionel Sosa, a former aide to George W. Bush and a leading figure for an older generation of Hispanic Republicans, works with Newt Gingrich.
The litany of complaints about Romney is long. Perhaps the sharpest is that he says he would veto the DREAM Act, a poll-tested corner of immigration reform that would legalize only the most virtuous of illegal immigrants: people who came as children and then enrolled in college or the military. A Univision poll released Tuesday found 54 percent of Hispanic voters saying they'd be less likely to choose a candidate who promises to veto the legislation, which has the support of more than 90 percent of Hispanic voters in other polls.
Romney also repeatedly used immigration as a wedge on the campaign trail, jabbing Rick Perry over his relatively moderate stance on the issue the exchange prompted Perry to call Romney and his allies heartless and supporting harsh laws that would convince immigrants to self-deport.
Fueling the frustration of Hispanic leaders: Romney has not, in fact, faced a serious challenge from the anti-immigrant right, and the immigration attacks were not ultimately what felled Perry, the man who was for a moment his most threatening opponent.
"It's really a gratuitous, self-inflicted wound," marveled Eliseo Medina, the secretary-treasurer the No. 2 post at the Service Employees International Union, which has already endorsed Obama.
"He's had three months in which he has been doing nonstop bashing immigrants basically and the sad part of it is I don't think he had to."
Romney has spent his time in Florida trying to make amends, tapping the anti-Communist sentiment of Miami Cubans a fading force in Hispanic politics but still a potent one and sparring with Gingrich over the attack ads the former House speaker has been airing which call Romney anti-immigrant.
A Romney campaign official who handles Hispanic outreach, Ana Carbonell, wasn't immediately available to comment Wednesday, but some of his supporters believe the risk is overstated.
"Immigration is the least of his worries now," said Alex Castellanos, a consultant who advised Romney's 2008 campaign. "In general, he can surround himself with [former Florida Sen. Mel] Martinez and [Florida Sen. Marco] Rubio and come out with a strong plan to increase employment-based legal immigration so we stop China from raiding our top intellectual draft choices."
But Romney has reason to worry: He watched a close friend, Meg Whitman, lose her bid for governor of California in part because she was pushed to the right during the Republican primary, running television ads calling for a wall on the border.
"She went right on immigration and then tried to really court Latino voters in the general election, and it was very difficult for her," said Arturo Vargas, the executive director of the nonpartisan, California-based National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
That's something that any candidate should be wary of: How do you say one thing during a primary season and try to change a position or nuance it in a general election?
Romney confessed his parents were American citizens who never spoke Spanish.
"I don't think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American," Romney said, adding that he'd still be grateful if Ramos put the word out.
Romney needs a better answer, and though he did his best in South Florida to project a soft line on illegal immigrants and a hard line on Fidel Castro who he suggested would go to hell, he has dug himself a deep hole. Hispanic activists in both parties told POLITICO they are stunned by how far right Romney has moved in the past two months, and think he will have a hard time coming back.
"As for Romney, immigration and the Hispanic vote, put a fork in him. He's done, cooked, burnt," said Frank Sharry, the founder and executive director of the Democratic group America's Voice. Sharry said Democrats would have had reason to fear an immigration moderate with strong Hispanic credentials like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who recently warned his party to moderate its tone on immigration.
But the former Massachusetts governor, he argued, finds himself in an impossible position. What can Romney do? If he flip-flops in the general, he'll piss off his new hard-liner friends on the right and underscore his flip-flopping reputation; he stays hard right and [angers] the fastest growing voter bloc in the country.
Some Republicans have come around to the same opinion.
"Romney has done himself some real damage," said Ana Navarro, a Florida Republican who has advised John McCain and Jeb Bush. "Romney has now thrown Obama a lifesaver on the issue. It's been stupid and unnecessary. He could have been more nuanced and left himself room to maneuver."
"Immigration is not most the important issue for Hispanics, but it definitely sets a tone," she said.
The Hispanic community, indeed, is one place where Romney has failed to line up the support of the Republican establishment. Navarro backed Huntsman. Lionel Sosa, a former aide to George W. Bush and a leading figure for an older generation of Hispanic Republicans, works with Newt Gingrich.
The litany of complaints about Romney is long. Perhaps the sharpest is that he says he would veto the DREAM Act, a poll-tested corner of immigration reform that would legalize only the most virtuous of illegal immigrants: people who came as children and then enrolled in college or the military. A Univision poll released Tuesday found 54 percent of Hispanic voters saying they'd be less likely to choose a candidate who promises to veto the legislation, which has the support of more than 90 percent of Hispanic voters in other polls.
Romney also repeatedly used immigration as a wedge on the campaign trail, jabbing Rick Perry over his relatively moderate stance on the issue the exchange prompted Perry to call Romney and his allies heartless and supporting harsh laws that would convince immigrants to self-deport.
Fueling the frustration of Hispanic leaders: Romney has not, in fact, faced a serious challenge from the anti-immigrant right, and the immigration attacks were not ultimately what felled Perry, the man who was for a moment his most threatening opponent.
"It's really a gratuitous, self-inflicted wound," marveled Eliseo Medina, the secretary-treasurer the No. 2 post at the Service Employees International Union, which has already endorsed Obama.
"He's had three months in which he has been doing nonstop bashing immigrants basically and the sad part of it is I don't think he had to."
Romney has spent his time in Florida trying to make amends, tapping the anti-Communist sentiment of Miami Cubans a fading force in Hispanic politics but still a potent one and sparring with Gingrich over the attack ads the former House speaker has been airing which call Romney anti-immigrant.
A Romney campaign official who handles Hispanic outreach, Ana Carbonell, wasn't immediately available to comment Wednesday, but some of his supporters believe the risk is overstated.
"Immigration is the least of his worries now," said Alex Castellanos, a consultant who advised Romney's 2008 campaign. "In general, he can surround himself with [former Florida Sen. Mel] Martinez and [Florida Sen. Marco] Rubio and come out with a strong plan to increase employment-based legal immigration so we stop China from raiding our top intellectual draft choices."
But Romney has reason to worry: He watched a close friend, Meg Whitman, lose her bid for governor of California in part because she was pushed to the right during the Republican primary, running television ads calling for a wall on the border.
"She went right on immigration and then tried to really court Latino voters in the general election, and it was very difficult for her," said Arturo Vargas, the executive director of the nonpartisan, California-based National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
That's something that any candidate should be wary of: How do you say one thing during a primary season and try to change a position or nuance it in a general election?
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