Tamar Jacoby: The Voters Really Want Amnesty

"The Iowa caucuses won't begin for hours, and the outcome, in both parties, is up for grabs. But many pundits already know what they're going to say afterward, at least about immigration and its effect on the results. It's the conventional wisdom on immigration -- you've heard it a dozen times. That the public is virulently anti-immigrant. That political leaders -- including President Bush and the senators from both parties who voted last summer to overhaul the immigration system -- are hopelessly out of touch with this angry tide. That millions of people across the country are going to vote on the basis of their fury," the LA Times.

"True, immigration has loomed large in Iowa, once a state with virtually no immigrants, now full of foreigners seeking work in new meatpacking plants. It's also true that growing economic insecurity -- the emerging X-factor of the 2008 campaign, already edging out Iraq as the No. 1 issue -- could end up compounding concern about immigration nationwide. And there's no question that presidential candidates, Democrats included, have spent months inflaming voter anger in Iowa and elsewhere."

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