Immigration could undo McCain

WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The immigration bill could be U.S. Sen. John McCain's undoing as a Republican presidential candidate.

This week, the bill failed a key Senate vote. Only 45 senators voted to end debate and proceed to a floor vote, 15 short of the 60 required for closure.

McCain plans to join legislators pushing for the compromise bill, The Arizona Republic said. Campaigning in Iowa, he said a majority of voters support the bill, even if a majority of Republican primary voters do not.

"The people of Arizona sent me to Washington to do the hard things," McCain added.

McCain is the only Republican candidate supporting the bill, even though some of the other candidates have supported similar plans in the past.

"If McCain really wants to poke the Republican base in the eye, trying to revive this bill would be the best way to do that," Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California, said. "If he derives perverse pleasure from dividing his party, that's what'll do it. He could end up having a lot of fun, but he's not going to be president."