>Let's be real - who gives a shit about criminals
>and immigrants?
I think this is too pessimistic. Americans pay lip service to this being a nation of immigrants, and sometimes they even mean it. We're certainly more welcoming than Australians, Japanese, or Europeans. If people come, work hard, and become citizens, there's plenty of mainstream appeal there. And with ex-felons, you can make a very mainstream argument that having paid one's debt to society, one should be allowed to vote. We're not all cretins.
Doug