It looks as if Rep. Tom Tancredo is hoping to capitalize on his anti-immigrant credentials in an effort to make a run for the White House:
Rep. Tom Tancredo yesterday formed a committee to explore a run for the Republican nomination for president, hoping to force the issue of immigration into the primary debates and push the candidates to embrace stricter enforcement.
“As I look at the current presidential candidates — Republican and Democratic — I simply do not see one who reflects the grass-roots, majority belief of Americans that our borders must be secured, that employers who hire illegals must be prosecuted, and that no one who has broken our immigration laws should ever be put on a ‘pathway to citizenship,’ ” Mr. Tancredo wrote in his first fundraising letter.
It is hard to believe that Tancredo has much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination – and the fact that his campaign is winning accolades from Bay Buchanan does not bode well:
Bay Buchanan, a friend and confidante of Mr. Tancredo’s who runs his political action committee, Team America, said that immigration is the issue that will help Mr. Tancredo stand out from the pack of candidates. She also said his record, consistently conservative up and down the line, will go over well with Iowa’s pro-life, conservative caucusgoers.
“He is an across-the-board social conservative — one that the Christian right can feel completely comfortable with, that he has been with them on those issues for his whole life,” she said.
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But Mr. Tancredo stands out from that pack because he brings to the race a dedicated army of talk-radio show hosts and activists who oppose illegal immigration.
“His strength is that he already has a national following. He has enormous grass-roots support. He is well-known across this country by the Republican base,” said Mrs. Buchanan, who was chairman in all three of her brother Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaigns.
Having thrice chaired her brother’s various losing efforts, Buchanan clearly has an affinity backing futile vanity campaigns, so it comes as no surprise that she’s supporting Tancredo.
