December 20, 2007
Tancredo To Drop Out Of Presidential Race
UPDATED.
Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will make a "major announcement" from Iowa today, his campaign said yesterday, inviting speculation that the Colorado congressman will drop out of the race. AP reports this morning that "a person close to Tancredo" has confirmed that he will abandon his bid for the GOP nomination.
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details.
Tancredo is perhaps too much of a niche (and not well-enough known) candidate for this race, but he may take credit for ensuring that his battle cry, illegal immigration, is a decisive issue in the GOP nomination fight. His is perhaps the most hard-line position of the GOP contenders -- he has called for an end to legal immigration as well -- and that has forced many of the front-runners to sharpen their own more moderate positions to avoid appearing weak by comparison. In the CNN/YouTube debate last month, he accused his aping rivals of trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo."
Immigration is proving a vote-driver in Iowa and New Hampshire, both largely white states with tiny (but growing) populations of Latino migrants. Despite his ownership of conservative anger over illegal immigration, Tancredo has attracted fewer donations and supporters than Ron Paul. On immigration and other issues, Tancredo is too fringe for many conservatives. He has said the U.S. should threaten to bomb the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina in retaliation for any future Islamic terrorist attacks, which once prompted John Podhoretz to call him "an idiot."
When he announced his bid back in April, Tancredo more or less admitted that he was entering the race to keep the immigration issue alive and make a few points. To that end he's succeeded, and that's about as much, if not more, than he could have hoped for in this race.
The announcement will be made at 3 p.m. EST today. We'll update after it happens.
[UPDATE] Forgot to mention: Tancredo said in October that he would not seek re-election to his congressional seat, regardless of where his presidential bid went.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user VictoryNH: Protect Our Primary
Posted at 7:50 AM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Congress, House, Immigration, Republicans, Tom Tancredo, WH 2008
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