In 2006, Democrat Francine Busby ran against Republican Brian Bilbray in a special election for California's 50^th Congressional District.  At a campaign stop, a man told Busby, "I want to help, but I don't have papers."  Busby responded that "[e]verybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help" and that "you don't need to be a registered voter to help."

Bilbray went on the attack and noted that "[s]he's soliciting illegal aliens to campaign for her and it's on tape -- this isn't exactly what you call the pinnacle of ethical campaign strategy."  As politicians often do, Busby ran back from her position and insisted that she was not referring to illegal aliens, but merely encouraging people under the age of 18 who were not registered to vote to campaign for her.

This fooled no one, and despite the overwhelming tide against Republicans (in fact, the special election was to replace Duke Cunningham, who resigned after pleading guilty to bribery and tax evasion), Bilbray edged out Busby by campaigning against illegal immigration.

Six years later, Democrats have given up the pretense of not wanting the support of illegal aliens.  The Democratic National Convention featured a prime-time speech by an illegal named Benita Veliz, who praised Barack Obama for granting her amnesty by executive order.

The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article about illegal alien "DREAMers" engaging in political advocacy.  One told the Journal, "We can't vote but we can get people to vote who support our issues. It's our way to participate in this democracy."

Much of the funding to help organize these illegals comes from ostensibly nonpartisan groups, so they go to great pains to claim they are not campaigning for Obama.  But it's pretty clear whom they are helping.  Another illegal alien who heads a group called "Dream Big Vegas" says, "We don't tell people who to vote for, but we make it clear that immigration matters to our community."

The Journal notes that the majority of the people who these illegals organize "plan to support Democratic candidates."

Incidentally, Brian Bilbray is a target of these "nonpartisan" illegal immigrant activists.  The San Diego PBS affiliate reports, "On a recent afternoon, about a dozen of those activists gathered outside Bilbray's district office in Solana Beach, north of San Diego. Most were current or recently graduated undocumented students. They waved signs protesting Bilbray's opposition to the DREAM Act."

But despite the fact that they face absolutely no repercussions for their illegal presence or their interference in our electoral process, these people act as if they are the victims of terrible oppression because they cannot vote.

According to one illegal immigrant in the liberal Colorlines, "[w]hen you are shut out of the process, you have to create new forms of entry. Whether or not they lock the front door to political participation because of our legal status, we will create a window and climb through it."

There are no laws prohibiting illegals from campaigning, and quite frankly, I don't see much of a need for them.  If our immigration laws were enforced, these illegals would not be here in the first place.  If the laws are not enforced, what good is adding another law that can also be ignored?

Still, if we did want to pass a law to address this problem, we need to look no farther than the Mexican Constitution for guidance.  Article 9 states that "only the citizens of the Republic shall be entitled to take part in the country's political affairs[,]" and Article 33 states that "[f]oreigners shall not participate in the country's political affairs."