Maybe it's the Canadians

Does Macomb County have a serious problem with illegal immigration? How else do you explain the results of a straw poll taken at a Republican Party dinner there last night. Asked "Who is your choice for President in 2008?" the 327 people who participated picked virulent anti-immigrant Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado by a pretty wide margin, scoring 60 votes to Rudy Guiliani's (the closest competitor) 45.

Tancredo's national profile has been raised in recent months solely based on the GOP base's rising opposition to illegal immigration. Tancredo has fanned the flames and rarely talks about anything else. Anti-immigrant sentiment is worrisome, but not surprising in places like California and Arizona, where the problems associated with illegal immigration are so obviously present in every day life. But the fact that (some) voters in Macomb County, Michigan prefer a man for president of the United States whose sole issue is illegal immigration and whose views on that subject can be pretty extreme is surprising to say the least.