We've noted that immigration may be the big issue for the 2008 presidential campaign, but it could also tear apart the Republican Party. Craig Crawford says the fight "pits business interests who favor relaxed rules against hard-pressed American workers who believe they are losing jobs to illegal residents. That tension seriously divides Republican ranks."
Now, Business Week reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), "an early front-runner for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination, is trying to bring peace to the party by plucking ideas from both warring camps."
"For McCain, the stakes are high. A legislative triumph that unites the party's diverse elements could help propel a Presidential campaign. But if the best chance to pass comprehensive immigration reform since 1986 ends in discord, White House strategists fear a backlash among Latinos, now the nation's largest minority group, that would reverse Republican gains in the 2004 elections."