For months and months, Rush Limbaugh and other Conservative Talk Radio voices have blasted away at John McCain for his past exploits against the GOP base.  Last year, McCain tried to pass what many claimed an amnesty bill in McCain-Kennedy, and has been at odds with a large base of the party that opposes amnesty in any form.   However, what happened yesterday in Florida was something that none of us could have expected last year after witnessing the enormous push-back McCain received; the Hispanic vote trumped the GOP anti-amnesty base. 

One of the smallest voting minority groups in the GOP had a profound impact in choosing our most probable nominee despite the opposition of arguably one of our largest.  In Florida, McCain won the vote over Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney by 5% according to the Florida Department of State.  According to Fox News exit polls, McCain carried the Hispanic Vote 54% to just 14% for Romney.  With the Hispanic vote making up over 12% of the entire electorate, this demographic disparity made up almost exactly the difference that McCain would eventually win by: 5%

So how did one of our smallest voting groups ultimately dictate who our next most probable nominee will be, despite the seeming uprising of our base against John McCain?

First off, illegal immigration has taken a back door in the minds of Americans over the past few months due to a declining dollar and sliding national economy.  Not to mention that McCain was able to keep the Iraq War and radical jihadism in the forefront of voters minds - kudos to his team for that. 

Second, close to all Hispanic voters support amnesty or some form of allowing illegal immigrants to staying in the country indefinately - John McCain's strong suit.

So what does this mean going forward?  

Unless the middle-of-the-road Republicans start to realize again how outrageous it is to give the many benefits of being a citizen to people who aren't even on the books, let alone paying taxes, illegal immigration will continue to stay in the back seat and Hispanic voters will continue to combine with these moderates and make the difference in election after election for John McCain.  You have 96 hours to choose.