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It's pretty typical for political campaigns to send out "What They Are Saying" emails to highlight positive news coverage of their candidate, but today the McCain camp has sent out an email attacking a specific rival. Titled, "What They Are Saying: Mitt Romney on Immigration," the email highlights negative articles about Romney's recent statements on immigration.

Romney, who once called a McCain-Kennedy type solution "quite different" from amnesty, only to call the current bill "amnesty," was in Iowa yesterday:

Asked his definition of amnesty, Romney said "it is such a loaded term and we probably ought to get a lawyer to say. And I understand that in some respects this (SB 1348) is not technically amnesty, because it does come with some penalty. It comes with a $5,000 penalty, so technically lawyers would probably tell us that's not amnesty. On the other hand, it has one of the key features of amnesty -- and one that I find not fair -- that is, that everyone would be allowed to stay indefinitely. Whether or not that is technically amnesty, it is amnesty-lite, amnesty in form, and it is something which I don't support."

It's hard to see who comes out of this back and forth better off, and in a way this feud highlights the vulnerabilities of both candidates. McCain is aggressively defending a position that is highly unpopular among the conservative base, and Romney is attacking that position, but his past statements impair his credibility in doing so. Either way, it should make next week's debate more interesting.

topics:
Law, Immigration