With a lightning round of conference calls and press releases, pro-reform activists tried to tamp down gloomy predictions about the future of immigration reform in Congress after Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts. They argued that unlike the health care overhaul, this is an initiative that enjoys bipartisan support.

Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts senate race is widely seen as a major blow to President Barack Obama’s hope of passing health care reform. Does this mean immigration reform –which has taken a back seat to health care since Obama took office a year ago— is dead?