The candidates’ rhetoric seems to put reality aside in the interest of hitting the typically tough-on-immigration talking points. Poizner and Whitman pledge to combat California’s economic troubles by cracking down on social services provided to undocumented immigrants, services that the former colorfully claims are pushing the state over a cliff. This is despite the fact that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger explicitly stated that undocumented immigrants are not to blame for the state’s budget woes. Both identify allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public universities as a critical example of the kind of taxpayer-funded benefits they oppose. Yet a recent study finds that undocumented students make up one percent or less of the student population at the state’s three higher education systems. For the UC system, offering this benefit cost five-tenths of a percent of its state-funded budget in 2007-8.

Above all, Whitman and Poizner agree on one thing: “No Amnesty.” This knee-jerk position is what we’ve come to expect from GOP leadership these days, despite evidence that an earned legalization program for the nation’s undocumented immigrants is in our shared economic interest.

After June’s primary election, the Republican candidate for governor will have to win the favor of a larger and more moderate pool of voters. And recent polling tells us that many California voters’ attitudes about immigration have shifted away from reactionary attitudes and restrictive policies of the past. An LA Times/USC poll indicates that fewer voters than ever support denying essential services to undocumented immigrants. Many of those same voters express strong support for the legalization measures that Whitman and Poizner are so eager to oppose. These polls confirm what many of us are already thinking: Californians are looking for new ideas to move the state forward, and on immigration, the GOP just doesn’t get it.