This could cost the Dems the Senate too...

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Ruling Is New Hot-Button Issue in Hot Season

By JONATHAN WEISMAN And STEPHANIE SIMON
Jane Norton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Colorado, had a
hunch that by dinnertime Wednesday, conservative voters across the state would
have heard about a federal judge blocking much of Arizona's immigration law.

She had a hunch they would be angry.

So Ms. Norton's campaign ordered up a new round of robocalls, informing voters
that Ms. Norton was proud to have been endorsed by one of the immigration law's
strongest advocates, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. The campaign had already called
80,000 Republican voters. Now, it planned to call 100,000 more, said Josh
Penry, Ms. Norton's campaign manager.

The calls to Colorado voters Wednesday night were just one sign that the
federal ruling in Arizona is likely to ripple through this heated campaign
season.

Republicans quickly denounced both the ruling and the Obama Justice Department
for challenging the law in the first place. Some said the ruling would further
energize voters who are angry about what they see as federal overreach on
health care and other issues.

Rep. John Boozman, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Arkansas, said
he expected the judge's ruling to further rile voters and motivate them to
reject Democratic incumbents. "It's a defining issue," Mr. Boozman said. Mr.
Boozman takes questions at every town hall, he said, and "this will come up at
every one."

Democrats, divided on the issue and running against stiff political headwinds,
were unsure how the ruling would play out.

Some called it an unhelpful distraction from the campaigns they have been
building around jobs, economic themes and border enforcement. Pat Waak,
chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party, said candidates can't win in the
fall if they aren't talking about jobs and the economy.

"We're not talking about credit-card companies not being able to take advantage
of you, or student loans," she said. "We have to be the messengers of what
affects your life."

Other Democrats said U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton had usefully inserted
herself between the two political lightning rodsthe Arizona law and the Obama
administration.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.), who had encouraged the Justice Department suit,
said Democrats can now say that however one feels about the Arizona law, major
elements of it have been put into question by a judge. "This helps Democrats
talk about solutions," he said in an interview.

The judge's ruling doesn't order Congress to act, and lawmakers have shown
little interest this year in tackling the issue. But if immigrant-rights
advocates and anti-illegal immigration activists agree the current system is
broken, they appear to have no choice but to press for congressional action.

"I'm hoping that this has turbocharged that understanding and sent it from
Arizona straight to Capitol Hill, where we really need to be having this
discussion," said Angela Kelley of the Center for American Progress, a group
with close ties to the White House. She is an advocate for an immigration
overhaul that includes a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million
illegal immigrants in the U.S. "At some point, you've got to eat your
vegetables," she said.

But for Democrats, the turbocharge might be at the polls, and to their
disadvantage. William Gheen, president of the anti-illegal immigrant Americans
for Legal Immigration, called Wednesday for all congressional incumbents to be
ousted in November.

"There's a wave of anger sweeping across this nation today as people of all
races and political affiliations feel that we the people have been betrayed by
this president and this judge," he said.

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, an anti-illegal immigration firebrand who is
running for Colorado governor on a third-party ticket, predicted the ruling
would motivate conservatives, tea-party activists and all voters who "are so
sick of the federal government."

"This action will stoke the fires of states' rights throughout this country,
and well it should," Mr. Tancredo said.

In Arizona, Democratic House members in swing districtsReps. Harry Mitchell,
Ann Kirkpatrick and Gabrielle Giffordshad denounced the Justice Department's
effort to block the state law. Ms. Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that the ruling
wouldn't end the legal fight.

"Elected officials would be wise to stop talking about distractions and focus
on their constituents," Ms. Kirkpatrick said, vowing to press for federal
action on a border-security law this fall.

Obama administration officials said the ruling should force Republicans who
sided with a bipartisan effort on immigration in 2006 and 2007 to come back to
the table.

And administration officials said they believe that after the midterm
elections, the debate will shift. In their view, an energized Republican base
might drive the results this November. But the 2012 presidential election,
which will draw a far larger number of voters to the polls, will likely turn on
swing voters, including Latinos in key states such as Colorado and Nevada,
administration officials said.

"I find it incomprehensible that Republicans are almost unanimously negative on
this decision," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said. "It's just alienating
Hispanic voters.If Republicans continue to block efforts for comprehensive
reform, they're going to suffer at the polls. "

Naftali Bendavid
contributed to this article.

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