Along with citing a list of moderate GOP governors with last names like Bush and Christie as potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates, “Arizona Sen. John McCain said Thursday that he believes Republicans can defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, but only if they pass immigration reform.”
Calling Hillary Clinton the “odds-on favorite right now” to win the White House in 2016, McCain added, “I expect it to be very competitive, except if we don’t enact some kind of comprehensive immigration reform, I do not see a way for us to really win a general election.”
McCain also said he would continue to “hope and pray and work” to get comprehensive immigration reform through the GOP controlled House.
Passing immigration reform was the sole policy recommendation of the 2013 Republican Party autopsy into its 2012 rout, but the House Republican conference has repeatedly blocked any action on the measure since the Senate passed a reform bill last year.
“Hopefully my colleagues in the House will realize the same demographics that I am referring to and that they will at least in some way bring up immigration reform, whether it’s piecemeal, whether it’s one-at-a-time,” he said. “I think as the 2016 campaign gets closer that my colleagues will recognize … that we are marginalizing the Republican Party,” McCain added.
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