Last night the current iteration of amnesty for illegal aliens suffered a mortal wound in the US Senate. Today the fallout began. The big losers were incumbent president George Bush, presidential hopeful John McCain, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Not willing to accept responsibility for failing to muster support for this clearly Democrat-inspired piece of legislation, Harry Reid blamed the president. On the cable news shows, the talking billiard ball James Carville echoed that ridiculous spin.

More interesting was the reaction of the McCain constituency to his obvious failure to gauge the pulse of his erstwhile supporters. One notable case in point — his county chairman in Aiken County, South Carolina resigned over the immigration issue. From an article in the Washington Times:

A South Carolina Republican who resigned Wednesday from the McCain campaign said he had reached a “parting of ways with McCain and Lindsey Graham” over the immigration issue.

“I hear from a lot of people, and I have yet to get one positive opinion on this immigration bill,” David Nix, who served as chairman for Mr. McCain’s campaign in Aiken County, S.C., told The Times yesterday.

“I feel McCain and Graham are out of touch with the people of South Carolina,” Mr. Nix said. “They are listening to the illegal aliens and not the citizens. We have lot of illegal aliens in this state.”

Another loss for McCain was reported this evening in the Washington Post as Washington lawyer John Dowd defected to Fred Thompson:

John Dowd represented Sen. John McCain in his darkest hour, the “Keating Five” scandal. He supported McCain the first time he ran for president in 2000 and signed up to be a major fundraiser for him in this year’s presidential race. But when former senator Fred D. Thompson began thinking about running, the Washington lawyer changed his mind.

For McCain (Ariz.), who started off as the favorite to win the Republican nomination but now trails former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in most polls, Dowd’s move signals yet another threat to his struggling campaign….

Thompson’s candidacy appears to present the most challenges for McCain. One of only three senators to endorse his candidacy when the lawmaker from Arizona sought the presidency in 2000, Thompson has been basking in media attention even as McCain has been the subject of attacks from the party base on the compromise immigration legislation he helped shape. Though the two shared remarkably similar voting records in the Senate, Thompson has assailed the immigration bill, which many Republicans dislike….

In a conference call with thousands of NumbersUSA activists on Wednesday afternoon, presidential candidate Tom Tancredo announced that he will focus his efforts on campaigning against Republicans who support amnesty in their own districts. He has titled this his Save America campaign, and supporters can sign a petition here that begins:

PETITION TO UNITED STATES SENATORS, UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

I am outraged that Congress is even debating a bill that rewards law breaking, that shows contempt for immigrants who wait their turn and enter America legally, that leaves our borders unsecured, and that will cost American citizens billions of dollars.

I demand that members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives stand up to George W. Bush, the Hispanic lobby, and the corporate special interests. I demand you stand up for America and conservative principles, and oppose the Kennedy-McCain-Bush amnesty bill.

And I demand that all candidates for President of the United States oppose amnesty for illegals; support strong and effective measures to secure our borders; and support tough enforcement of existing immigration laws against employers who hire illegal aliens!….

What is overwhelmingly apparent, however, is that the Republican senators who initially supported the compromise immigration bill, and changed their positions to vote against cloture late on Thursday night, were influenced by a landslide of letters, faxes, and phone calls from their constituents. One case in point — Virginia. Both Republican John Warner and Democrat James Webb had initially supported the legislation, and at the eleventh hour, both voted against cloture. This particular state is interesting because both political parties are represented and because both senators changed from pro to con.

The biggest winner of all, in our opinion, was Roy Beck of NumbersUSA, who led the charge of citizen activists. When the Bush amnesty plan was first introduced in 2004 the organization had 12,000 members. Through skillful leadership, by attracting top talent for the few available paid positions, with innovative use of internet technology tools, and by incomparable articulation of the issues Roy Beck has grown his cadre of vigilant citizens to over 375,000. And they clearly made a difference.

Cross-posted from ADMC.