It's hard not to be impressed by the almost comically gifted immigration opponent Kris Kobach (Harvard, Yale and Oxford? I mean, really? All three? And he has to look like Harry Hamlin on top of all that?). Impressive he is, though, and his profile is rising. On the drive home from work the other day, I heard him featured on NPR: The Man Behind The Illegal-Immigration Crackdown, [by Laura Ziegler, All Things Considered, September 30, 2011]

As the piece began, I checked my watch for the number of seconds to elapse before either Mark Potok or Heidi Beirich chimed in. Sure enough, it was Heidi (Purdue University. As for actresses she resembles, well, I'll let you ponder that yourself).

Heidi had nothin'.

"His decision to first start at the local level with laws in towns that were going through some strife over growing immigrant populations, and then take that to the state level, shifted the entire terms of the debate."

That actually sounds like perfectly respectable strategy to me. Effective, too.

Unlike the SPLC strategy in attacking a figure like Kobach, which only serves to make them look marginal and desperate.