For the first time, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday flatly came out against Gov. Spitzer‘s plan to allow legal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses – as Hillary Rodham Clinton took fire from both parties for supporting the controversial proposal.
Asked on CNN’s “The Situation Room” whether illegal immigrants should have driver’s licenses, Bloomberg said, “I do not believe they should.”
He called Spitzer’s first plan to give illegal aliens the same licenses as citizens “inappropriate.”
And while he labeled the governor’s latest plan – offering two licenses that are federally recognized and another that would be available to illegal immigrants – a step in the right direction, he said, “I still don’t think that it is where we should be.”
Clinton’s new support for the plan took an immediate toll on the campaign trail.
Karen Thalacker, a political activist in Iowa, which holds the nation’s first caucuses, decided to back Sen. Chris Dodd’s campaign after watching him slam Clinton on the issue in Tuesday’s debate.
Thalacker turned down a Clinton-campaign request to introduce the former first lady at an event next Monday.
“The way she answered the questions were ‘I was for it until I was against it for people who are on the fence,’ that sort of answer confirms how they feel about her,” Thalacker said.
After the debate, Clinton’s campaign said the senator wasn’t on the fence, but in fact backed giving licenses to illegals.
Marcia Bachmann, Iowa’s Crawford County Democratic chair, said Clinton’s immigration comments sounded like double-speak.
“That would never fly here in western Iowa,” Bachmann said, referring to supporting licenses for illegal aliens.
Clinton’s handling of the issue also drew fire from New York Democrats who would normally be backing her “favorite daughter” candidacy.
“Until she takes a stand [against Spitzer’s plan], I certainly wont be supporting her,” said Long Island Assemblywoman Ginny Fields.
“If she’s going to stay with that kind of attitude, it’s the beginning of the end.”
Iowa Republicans vowed to use Clinton’s stand to put state Democratic lawmakers on the spot.
And Iowa Christian Alliance president Steve Schleffler said key conservative groups are mobilizing around the issue.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who last month gave Clinton an 80 percent chance of becoming president, knocked her down to 50-50.
Her answer on giving illegal aliens driver’s licenses is a huge miss, he told Bloomberg News.
“If she doesn’t find a way to solve it, it could become a very, very profound weakness for her and something which changes the whole campaign,” he said.
Former President George H.W. Bush said Clinton’s nomination is no longer a lock.
“I thought a few weeks ago that she was almost a gimme, as we say in golf, for the nomination. I’m not sure I feel that way now . . . In her own party there seems to be more willingness to take her on and to argue about stuff,” he told Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace.
One New York state Senate Democrat, asking for anonymity, said senators warned Spitzer in a recent closed-door meeting that the timing of his plan could cause Hillary agita.
Added state Sen. Diane Savino (D-S.I.): “Hillary’s probably not particularly happy the governor decided to do this now. It’s a headache she didn’t need.”