A BRIDGE TOO FAR:

Latino caucus dumps Davis: They're angry about his veto on
driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. (Emily Bazar, October 5, 2002, Sacramento Bee)

The state's Latino Legislative Caucus dealt Gov. Gray Davis a major blow Friday when it announced it will not endorse his bid for re-election.

The move by the group of 22 Democratic senators and Assembly members was triggered by Davis' veto earlier this week of a package of bills that
would have allowed some undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. [...]

The Davis campaign immediately sought to downplay the announcement, saying the governor enjoys broad support among Latinos.

To bolster their argument, Davis aides pointed to the most recent Field Poll, in which Davis led Republican rival Bill Simon by seven percentage
points.

In the poll, 61 percent of Latinos opted for Davis, 8 percent for Simon, 7 percent other and 24 percent undecided. Latinos represented 14 percent of
the likely voter sample.

We're big proponents of the GOP recruiting Latino voters, but it would be disgraceful to try to curry favor by supporting such absurd things as
licenses for illegals just because it might help politically. Republicans need to make Latinos feel wanted and welcome while sticking to conservative
principles. It's nice that Gray Davis has more trouble, but there's not much opportunity here for Republicans. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2002 6:02 AM