The American Spectator

Former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin says Latinos “now have a very clear record of what [Sen. John McCain] would do” on immigration if elected president.

In a campaign conference call with reporters, Marin praised McCain’s “integrity” and said he “courageously” pushed immigration reform legislation in the Senate “at great political peril” to himself.

Speaking in advance of Sen. Barack Obama’s address today to the National Council of La Raza’s meeting in San Diego, Marin predicted that Obama would “do the same thing he has been doing” by claiming that “Senator McCain has changed his position on immigration reform. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Marin blamed the failure of Senate immigration legislation on “people like Senator Obama casting votes that eventually unraveled the compromise” that McCain had crafted. She specifically blamed Obama for voting for an amendment to the 2007 bill that “cut the number of guest workers in half.”

Obama “has not shown any great leadership,” said Marin, who praised McCain’s “unquestionable” integrity. “He not only says what he means, he means what he says.”

She said McCain’s current emphasis on border security was because “the American people have said that they want border security first,” and that, if elected president, other elements of McCain’s immigration agenda would be done after securing the border. “He will do it in steps,” Marin said.

Asked about polls showing that a majority of Hispanic voters favor Obama, Marin said that polls also show 26 percent of Hispanics are undecided, and said many are unaware of McCain’s role in pushing immigration reform. McCain will address La Raza’s conference Monday, a move for which he’s been excoriated by Michelle Malkin and other conservatives.