From the Dept. of Bickering: McCain, Obama and Immigration

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Even as Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wooed Latino officials at a conference Saturday, Democrats were gunning for him on the issue of immigration. McCain stressed his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform -- and enforcement -- at a conference of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), covered by Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Simon.

On the same day, Democrats released a video called McCain vs. McCain: Immigration Reform that purports to show McCain flip-flopping on whether enforcement should come first, or whether Congress should try for broad reform that gives some legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S. First, McCain tells the NALEO members that enforcement must come first, then he is shown saying comprehensive reform will be his ‘top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow.’ The short video finishes with a clip of McCain from a January 2008 presidential debate saying that now he wouldn’t vote for the comprehensive immigration bill he helped write in 2006. Karen Finney, communications director of the Democratic National Committee, which made and distributed the video, said: ‘Apparently, Senator McCain’s idea of ‘straight talk’ means giving two different answers to a straightforward question.’

The McCain camp, not to be outdone, countered with a three-page memo alleging that Obama supported ‘poison pill’ amendments designed to kill the immigration reform bill in 2007. ‘While John McCain was reaching across the aisle to solve the tough problem of immigration reform, Barack Obama was working for politics as usual in Washington,’ said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

--Nicole Gaouette in Washington