Senate Immigration Backers Reaching Out to Dozens of Republican Senators

Want a super majority to pass the bill

Senate immigration negotiators are targeting as many as two dozen Republicans for a show-of-force majority — which they believe may be the only way a reform bill will have the momentum to force the House to act.

Reform proponents are looking for votes far beyond the usual moderate suspects to senators in conservative bastions such as Utah, Georgia and Wyoming. The senators landed on the list because they're retiring, representing agricultural states, anxious to get the issue behind the party, important to persuading skittish House Republicans or all of the above.