Republicans warned that 2008 could be worse than 2006

From a New York Times article by John Broder

Ken Mehlman, the departing chairman of the Republican National Committee, warned on Thursday that his party would suffer even more devastating losses in 2008 than it did in 2006 if it did not reach out to minorities and address voter concerns about ethics.
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He said that if Republican officials shrugged off the repudiation of the party in the 2006 elections they would lose the White House in 2008 and remain in the minority in Congress indefinitely. He said the party had to recommit itself to political reform, fiscal restraint and personal ethics.

In good news for Democrats the Republican idea of how to reach out to minorities is to select Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, who emigrated from Cuba as a child, as the party’s new general chairman. There was no mention in the article of any awareness by any Republicans, including those who want to reach out to minorities, that the presidential candidacy of Tom Tancredo, Republican representative from Colorado, will have a much greater negative impact on how Latino voters view Republicans than any positive impact of having Mel Martinez as their general chairman.

Tom Tancredo enters presidential race

Tom Tancredo, Republican Congressman from Colorado, recently announced that he is running for president. This could a very good thing for the prospects of the Democratic Party. Think about the impact of the growing Hispanic vote, which in the past has been roughly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, going 85 or 90% for the Democrats, like the African-American vote.

To see why Tom Tancredo running for president might have that effect take a look at the “Cultural Impact” page from his Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus website. http://tancredo.house.gov/irc/culture.html Whenever Tancredo talks about the harmful effects of immigration, although the first few sentences refer to illegal immigration, most of what he says applies equally well, like that “Cultural Impact” page, to both legal and illegal immigrants. Although he does not come right out and say it, it is clear from the harmful effects he cites and his preoccupation with the southern border that he thinks Hispanics are a big problem.

If you are not Hispanic the racist undercurrent of everything he says and does may not be immediately obvious, but I can assure you that it is very clear to Hispanics. So as long as he is always clearly identified as a Republican and the other Republicans continue to not denounce him and his views I think increased exposure of his views could be very good for the prospects of the Democratic Party.