Combining two bits of analysis, one from the Right and one the Left, tells you all you need to know as to why Obama is now pushing the immigration issue, just as Reid played it in Nevada in 2010.
This first item via Ford O'Connell, a solid electoral analyst and friend, who blogs at Project Virginia.
So who or what does Obama need to target if he is going to win re-election? According to the recently released 2010 Census data, Obama should primarily be focused on the economy and jobs as it relates to independents and Hispanics in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico. All of these states have newly minted Republican governors who are under the gun to improve the economic plight of their respective states. If these governors stumble, their constituents will be looking for a quick fix and they won’t hesitate to pull the lever again for Obama.
Then over to an item by Ezra Klein, which Ford links to, as well. The Hispanic vote in a handful of states is critical to Obama in his campaign for re-election. Consequently, his bringing it up was always anticipated and it has far more to do with his winning re-election, than performing responsibly as chief executive of the United States.
In the short term, this is very good for Republicans. But is that true in the long term? A lot of these changes are driven by Hispanic immigrants.Texas gets more seats now, but the way it's getting those seats bring us closer to the day when Texas becomes a viable target for Democrats. Same goes for Arizona -- and that's a state where Hispanics are getting increasingly radicalized against the GOP. As Larry Littlefield pithily puts it, "It seems that most of the growth is in Blue portions of Red states."

