WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are losing some skirmishes over the Department of Homeland Security, but many feel they are winning a political war that will haunt Republicans in 2016 and beyond. [...] even some Republicans say party leaders are on a perilous path with a very public ideological struggle only highlighting the GOP's inability to pass contested legislation and possibly worsening its weak relationship with Hispanic voters. Republican leaders, he said, have engaged "in tactical malpractice, and at some point we're going to vote on the negotiated Homeland Security appropriations bill," a bipartisan plan that most Republicans oppose but cannot kill. The president, he said, has forced lawmakers to choose between "potential short-term national security threats and almost inevitable long-term damage to the constitutional foundation of the nation." Rep.