Some of the smarter Dems are starting to weigh in....   
      
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   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/politics/12governors.html   
      
      
   Governors Voice Grave Concerns on Immigration   
       
   Michael Dwyer/Associated Press   
      
   By ABBY GOODNOUGH   
   Published: July 11, 2010   
      
      
   In a private meeting with White House officials this weekend, Democratic    
   governors voiced deep anxiety about the Obama administration’s suit    
   against Arizona’s new immigration law, worrying that it could cost a    
   vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.    
      
   While the weak economy dominated the official agenda at the summer    
   meeting here of the National Governors Association, concern over    
   immigration policy pervaded the closed-door session between Democratic    
   governors and White House officials and simmered throughout the three-   
   day event.    
      
   At the Democrats’ meeting on Saturday, some governors bemoaned the    
   timing of the Justice Department lawsuit, according to two governors who    
   spoke anonymously because the discussion was private.    
      
   “Universally the governors are saying, ‘We’ve got to talk about jobs,’ ”    
   Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, said in an interview. “And    
   all of a sudden we have immigration going on.”    
      
   He added, “It is such a toxic subject, such an important time for    
   Democrats.”    
      
   The administration seemed to be taking a carrot-and-stick approach on    
   Sunday. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, in town to give    
   the governors a classified national security briefing, met one-on-one    
   with Jan Brewer, the Republican who succeeded her as governor of Arizona    
   and ardently supports the immigration law.    
      
   About the same time as that meeting, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.    
   said on a taped Sunday talk show that the Justice Department could bring    
   yet another lawsuit against Arizona if there is evidence that the    
   immigration law leads to racial profiling.    
      
   Ms. Brewer said she and Ms. Napolitano did not discuss the current    
   lawsuit. Instead, in a conversation she described as cordial, they    
   discussed Arizona’s request for more National Guard troops along the    
   border with Mexico, as well as other resources.    
      
   The Democrats’ meeting provided a window on tensions between the White    
   House and states over the suit, which the Justice Department filed last    
   week in federal court in Phoenix. Nineteen Democratic governors are    
   either leaving office or seeking re-election this year, and Republicans    
   see those seats as crucial to swaying the 2012 presidential race.    
      
   The Arizona law — which Ms. Brewer signed in April and which, barring an    
   injunction, takes effect July 29 — makes it a state crime to be an    
   illegal immigrant there. It also requires police officers to determine    
   the immigration status of people they stop for other offenses if there    
   is a “reasonable suspicion” that they might be illegal immigrants.    
      
   The lawsuit contends that controlling immigration is a federal    
   responsibility, but polls suggest that a majority of Americans support    
   the Arizona law, or at least the concept of a state having a strong role    
   in immigration enforcement.    
      
   Republican governors at the Boston meeting were also critical of the    
   lawsuit, saying it infringed on states’ rights and rallying around Ms.    
   Brewer, whose presence spurred a raucous protest around the downtown    
   hotel where the governors gathered.    
      
   “I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that almost every state in America    
   next January is going to see a bill similar to Arizona’s,” said Gov.    
   Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican seeking re-election.    
      
   But the unease of Democratic governors, seven of whom are seeking re-   
   election this year, was more striking.    
      
   “I might have chosen both a different tack and a different time,” said    
   Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, a Democrat who was facing a tough    
   fight for re-election and pulled out of the race earlier this year.    
   “This is an issue that divides us politically, and I’m hopeful that    
   their strategy doesn’t do that in a way that makes it more difficult for    
   candidates to get elected, particularly in the West.”    
      
   The White House would not directly respond to reports of complaints from    
   some Democratic governors.    
      
   But David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, said on Sunday on    
   CNN’s “State of the Union” that the president remained committed to    
   passing an immigration overhaul, and that addressing the issue did not    
   mean he was ignoring the economy.    
      
   “That doesn’t mean we can’t have a good, healthy debate about the    
   economy and other issues,” Mr. Axelrod said.    
      
   Mr. Obama addressed the economy last week during stops in Kansas City    
   and Las Vegas, and has been calling on Congress to offer additional tax    
   relief to small businesses.    
      
   And the heads of Mr. Obama’s national debt commission — Alan K. Simpson    
   and Erskine B. Bowles — were on hand here on Sunday to press the    
   economic issue.    
      
   The nation’s total federal debt next year is expected to exceed $14    
   trillion, and Mr. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and    
   Mr. Bowles, a Democrat and the White House chief of staff under    
   President Bill Clinton, offered a gloomy assessment if spending is not    
   brought under control even more.    
      
   “This debt is like a cancer,” Mr. Bowles said. “It is truly going to    
   destroy the country from within.”    
      
   Still, the issue of immigration commanded as much attention as anything    
   here this weekend.    
      
   Ms. Brewer, who was trailed by television cameras all weekend, called    
   the lawsuit “outrageous” and said the state was receiving donations from    
   around the country to help fight it.    
      
   “I think Arizona will win,” she said, “and we will take a position for    
   all of America.”    
      
   Immigration was not the only topic at the Saturday meeting between    
   Democratic governors and two White House officials — Patrick Gaspard,    
   Mr. Obama’s political director, and Cecilia Munoz, director of    
   intergovernmental affairs. But several governors, including Christine    
   Gregoire of Washington, said it was a particularly heated issue.    
      
   Ms. Gregoire, who does not face an election this year, said the White    
   House was doing a poor job of showing the American public that it was    
   working on the problem of illegal immigration.    
      
   “They described for me a list of things that they are doing to try and    
   help on that border,” Ms. Gregoire said of the White House officials at    
   the closed-door meeting. “And I said, ‘The public doesn’t know that.’ ”    
      
   She added, “We’ve got a message void, and the only thing we’re hearing    
   is that they’re filing a lawsuit.”    
      
   Some Democrats also joined Republicans in calling for Congress to pass    
   an immigration policy overhaul this year.    
      
   “There are 535 members of Congress,” said Gov. Brian Schweitzer of    
   Montana, a Democrat. “Certainly somebody back there can chew gum and    
   hold the basketball at the same time. This is not an either-or.”    
      
   Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico praised the Justice Department’s    
   lawsuit, saying his fellow Democrats’ concerns were “misguided.”    
      
   “Policy-wise it makes sense,” said Mr. Richardson, who is Hispanic and    
   who leaves office this year on term limits, “and Obama is popular with    
   Hispanic voters and this is going to be a popular move with them    
   nationally.”    
      
   Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland — a Democrat who voiced apprehension    
   about the lawsuit in the private meeting, according to the two governors    
   who requested anonymity — said in an interview that he supported it.    
      
   “The president doesn’t have control over some of the timing of things    
   that happen,” Mr. O’Malley said. “When those things arise, you can’t be    
   too precious about what’s in it for your own personal political timing    
   or even your party’s timing. When matters like this arise, I think the    
   president has to take a principled stand.”    
      
   But Mr. Bredesen said that in Tennessee, where the governor’s race will    
   be tight this year, Democratic candidates were already on the defensive    
   about the federal health care overhaul, and the suit against Arizona    
   further weakened them. In Tennessee, he said, Democratic candidates are    
   already “disavowing” the immigration lawsuit.    
      
   “Maybe you do that when you’re strong,” he said of the suit, “and not    
   when there’s an election looming out there.”    
      
   Mr. Ritter of Colorado said he wished the Justice Department had waited    
   to sue Arizona until after the law went into effect, to give the public    
   a chance to see how difficult it would be to enforce.    
      
   “It’s just an easier case to make,” he said. “I just think that law    
   enforcement officers are going to have a terribly difficult time    
   applying this law in a constitutional way.”    
      
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