During the last Democratic Presidential candidate debate, this question came up:

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, NBC moderator Tim Russert reminded Clinton. "You told the Nashua, N.H., editorial board it makes a lot of sense," he said. "Why does it make a lot of sense to give an illegal immigrant a driver's license?"

Clinton tried to cover all her bases. You can read about the full exchange, including other candidate's responses, here.

Edwards apparently has a yes/no rule, saying if he's asked a yes/no question, he'll answer it with a yes or a no. Or not:

Mr. Stephanopoulos: "Do you believe illegal immigrants should be denied driver’s licenses?"

Mr. Edwards: "Well, I think, first of all, that's for states to decide, not for the President of the United States to decide. But beyond that –"

Mr. Stephanopoulos: "So the 40 states that deny illegal immigrants driver’s licenses that’s okay with you?"

Mr. Edwards: "Let me finish. I think that is their decision to make, not the president's decision. But here's what I believe. I believe that, first of all, we have to have comprehensive immigration reform. And for anybody in this country who is making an effort and on the path to obtaining American citizenship, yes, they should have a driver's license. If they're not making any effort to become an American citizen, and we have a system for doing that, my own personal view is, no, I would not give them a driver's license."

Aha! He answered yes AND no. What does it take to "make an effort to become an American citizen? I'd argue the first thing is to declare that you're in the country. You know, maybe fill out a little piece of paperwork, like the hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants who come into this country every year.

This is a non-issue. It's ridiculous to propose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. It's also insulting. But you can almost see the wheels grinding in their heads, worrying about all those latino votes their going to lose if they actually give a real answer, so they talk out of both sides of their mouths.