Only John McCain had agreed to take part in a spanish language debate similar to one Democrats recently participated in and so it has been cancelled. With that said, I am not surprised.

The top four Republican candidates have a hard enough time convincing conservative voters they will share their values, especially on immigration. McCain seems to be resigned that his stance didn’t help but the damage is done. Appearing on a spanish language channel isn’t going to help the rest.

With that said 40% of hispanics went for President Bush in 2004. It is an increasingly important voting block that Bush, a Texan who understood the importance of the border and the people from the other side of it, was able to court them in a way that his increasingly anti-illegal-immigration party won’t be able to.