Though he's been out of office for four years now, Jeb Bush still has major influence within the Republican Party, not just in Florida, but nationally.

The former governor was quoted all over the place on Tuesday, at the start of his two-day third annual education conference organized in Washington D.C. Among the questions posed to him yesterday included his thoughts on the DREAM Act, which has bounced around Congress for much of the last decade (it stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), and could be voted on in the next couple of weeks.

The legislation would would shield from deportation students who are undocumented after coming to the U.S. illegally when they were younger than 16. Those kids could earn conditional residency if they can provide proof that they have lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years. They must have a high school diploma, or obtained a GED, and been accepted into a college or university. If after a six-year wait they graduated from community college, completed two years towards a four-year degree, or served two years in the military, they could apply for permanent residency.

As Harry Reid contemplates a vote on the issue in the Senate (where it looks like it will lose), the issue is being pushed hard by supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, and particularly students who this will directly affect.

When queried about it, Bush said he was "supportive" of the idea, but, in a somewhat reversal of previous comments, emphasized the defacto line these days of critics of immigration reform – the federal government much "secure the border" first, as reported by Politico:

“It’s used as a political tool for both parties,” Bush said, of immigration generally. “The Democrats, I think, are more shameless because they use it as a wedge issue, promising things that they’re never going to deliver, knowing they’re not going to deliver. I think it happens all the time.”

Bush, often mentioned as a possible presidential contender, called on President Barack Obama to travel down to the border. It’s a talking point other Republicans, like Arizona Sen. John McCain, have honed in on over the last few months.

“The president would, I think, earn tremendous points if he just went to the border and listened to people and sensed the frustration and determined that it’s different in Chicago maybe than it is in Tucson,” Bush said.

No doubt one Democrat Bush was looking at when he made his remarks is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who desperately needed Latino votes in his tough re-election battle against tea party cover girl Sharon Angle last month. Reid, who as Senate leader controls the agenda, has talked up the DREAM Act a lot this year, even though it's clear that he doesn't have the votes to pass the legislation. In fact, Reid spoke this year of having a vote on comprehensive immigration reform, seemingly out of nowhere, which so alienated South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that he bailed from giving any support to such legislation.

This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.