Most of the candidates in the large field of Republicans running for president seem content to act as if Donald Trump will fade from the limelight if they simply ignore him. They may be right. Then again, Trump could be beating them in the polls because he’s talking about what many aren’t: immigration.

Trump is wrong about how the issue should be addressed, of course, but if he can get the other Republicans to discuss what may be their party’s most vulnerable issue in a presidential election, he will have done a good deed. Now is the time to find out who has an immigration position that can win a general election.

Instead of tsk-tsking Trump every time he makes some asinine remark about Mexicans, the other Republican candidates could counter his bloviating by suggesting a reasonable process to stem illegal immigration and permit residency for the millions who entered this country without papers years ago but now live upstanding lives.

If they need a model, they can find one in the defeated compromise bill forged by Sens. John McCain and Ted Kennedy 10 years ago. Among other things, the legislation would have created a new status allowing temporary residency for undocumented immigrants holding low-skill jobs; after six years, they could apply for permanent residency.

Unfortunately, partisan politics kept the McCain-Kennedy bill from being enacted. In his 2008 run for president, McCain did what most Republicans running for president do: He talked more about border security than he did about the immigrants already here illegally. Trump is doing that too, while his competitors wait for him to fall into the ditch he’s digging.

They’re hoping Trump will fall as fast as he rose once the media turns its attention elsewhere. It will be better for voters and the Republican candidates if they talk about immigration now.