Republicans say Brown’s stance has boosted him in the polls. “The key for Scott Brown on this issue was the southern-border crisis and all of these different crises between ISIS, the southern border, Ebola, et cetera; all of a sudden it becomes more about national security,” says GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. Since July, Shaheen’s lead has slipped from double digits to just five points, according to RealClearPolitics, and a Brown spokeswoman tells NRO that’s in part because the issue of immigration has hit close to home. New Hampshire residents have seen neighboring Massachusetts struggle to respond to the influx of Central Americans into their communities, the spokeswoman says, and wonder whether their state will face similar problems.
At a recent meeting with veterans, the spokeswoman says, Brown held an open question-and-answer session where the audience could ask about anything, and the majority of questions were on immigration.
This is not how the RNC saw it playing out. After Mitt Romney’s defeat in 2012, the committee assembled a team that produced a postmortem report imploring Republicans to change their tune on immigration. “Among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform,” the report said. “If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.”
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