Not so, Tancredo

A Republican poll of independent and GOP voters in Tom Tancredo's congressional district portrays a different view on immigration than the one Mister 1 percent represented. From the Denver Post:

An internal Republican poll that examined the attitudes of independent and GOP voters in the district - a copy of which was obtained by The Denver Post - found opinions vastly at odds with that conventional wisdom.

They overwhelmingly support a guest worker program, reject the idea that most illegal immigrants should be deported, and even support the idea of amnesty, a dirty word for politicians of any stripe, but especially for the four Republican candidates now running for Tancredo's seat.

Coming from what nationally has been thought of as a "symbolic district" on the issue, the poll has been circulating in party circles for weeks. It has helped fuel a debate within the GOP about how powerfully the issue will play for Republicans in 2008 races - and how hard a line the GOP candidates should actually take.

It comes just as Latino Republican leaders in the state have cast dire warnings in recent weeks that overheated rhetoric on immigration risks alienating Latino voters, and as some state legislators have pushed the party to take even a harder line.