Immigration Politics

The conservative blogospheric reaction to the just-announced immigration deal is clearly negative. The Republican Senators most closely associated with the deal - McCain, Martinez, and Frist - will see their standing take a hit among Republican primary voters. This will probably not have much effect on John McCain's 2008 performance - he has not been popular with the Republican base for some time, for a variety of reasons. Mel Martinez isn't running for President in 2008, so he has little reason to care.

The surprise to me is Senator Frist, whose 2008 campaign continues to take on water. Already damaged by the perception that he's squandered his leadership position and failed to advance a conservative agenda, he's now allied himself with Ted Kennedy in an immigrant amnesty that the base hates. Does the Leader not realize who votes in Republican Presidential primaries?