Rudy and Romney Spar Over Illegal Immigration

GOP frontrunners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are trading heated barbs over immigration, each accusing the other of a weak stance on illegals. Through radio ads and campaign speeches, both candidates are looking to rally the conservative GOP base, the Washington Post reports—though neither man has solid conservative credentials on the issue.

Each candidate is homing in on the other's record in a liberal domain: Romney says Giuliani's New York was a magnet for immigrants, while a Giuliani acolyte said that when Romney was confronted with an immigration crisis in Massachusetts, "he simply ignored it." Both are cowering at the still-putative candidacy of Fred Thompson, who'd be a unimpeachably anti-immigrant candidate. (More illegal immigration stories.)