Back in 1992, Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, labeled Bill Clinton a “pander bear.”We’ve come full circle I’m afraid and the issue goes directly to why so many conservatives who are willing to settle for Mitt Romney really do not want to settle more Mitt Romney.Romney is bringing up Sanctuary Cities again. He is using it as an issue against Rick Perry with a new Pew report out that Texas has the highest number of illegal immigrants next to California.

“As you know, I opposed sanctuary cities as the governor of my state,” Romney said. “And the idea that a city would determine that it’s not going to follow the U.S. law is unacceptable and immigration law is federal law.“Immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government. The fact that you’re seeing states come up with various programs to try and secure their border is simply an indication that the federal government has failed in doing its job. And I need some lawyers to tell me how to go about doing it, but I would end sanctuary cities, if it’s legally possible.”

First, I expect we’ll start hearing about Mitt Romney’s sanctuary mansion again. But beyond that, the record suggests that, like going after Texas’s job creation record compared to his own in Massachusetts, Romney will have to be careful.

As Factcheck noted way back in November of 2007,

Romney might well get tough on sanctuary cities in the future, but he didn’t when he was governor. During his tenure, at least four Massachusetts cities enacted or renewed legislation declaring themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. Brookline and Cambridge reaffirmed their longtime status as sanctuary cities in so many words. Somerville and Orleans didn’t officially deem themselves ‘sanctuaries,’ but Somerville affirmed its ‘long-standing policies in support of all immigrants,’ while Orleans forbade city officials from turning in illegal immigrants without probable cause. We asked Romney’s campaign if he had acted against these cities, but they didn’t provide us with any examples. As far as we were able to determine in our own research, Romney made no attempts to penalize, censure, or cut funding to them.

But we don’t have to rely on a left-wing site portraying itself as the arbiter of truth.Go back to August 22, 2007, and the Associated Press covered the Giuliani v. Romney fight.

Romney has pledged to cut federal funds from cities that adopt what he calls sanctuary policies and ignore federal immigration laws. But as governor, Romney didn’t cut funding for four cities called sanctuary cities in Massachusetts.The ads also say that as governor Romney ordered state police to enforce existing immigration laws. While true, Romney signed the law ordering state police to enforce the laws during his final weeks in office. Romney’s successor narrowed it to Department of Corrections officers. State police never began training.