McCain accuses Obama of scuttling immigration overhaul

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With the race for the White House tight, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has begun using the issue of immigration to try to dent Democrat Barack Obama’s lead among Latino voters, who could prove decisive in the Southwest.

Polls have shown Obama leading McCain among Latino voters by margins of 2 to 1 or more. But immigration, an issue important to many Latinos, largely has been relegated to the back burner in the campaign, reports Nicole Gaouette from Washington.

The issue resurfaced this week as McCain issued a Spanish-language ad in the key states of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico that sought to blame Obama for the failure of congressional immigration overhaul efforts in 2007. McCain repeated that argument at an appearance before a Puerto Rican group in Florida.

McCain’s assertions were denounced by Democrats and immigration organizations as misleading. Immigration hard-liners, on the other hand, were perplexed by McCain’s campaign tactic.

The 30-second ad, ‘Which Side Are They On?’-- which you can watch here on YouTube -- opens with a narrator saying: ‘Obama and his congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they?’

Read more about the immigration issue here, and for more on immigration on La Plaza, click here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City