http://www.gopusa.com/news/2007/january ... redo.shtml

Immigration activist says ordinary Americans support Tancredo
By Chad Groening
AgapePress
January 18, 2007

(AgapePress) -- A spokeswoman for the Washington, DC-based Federation for American Immigration Reform believes U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo will have the support of a lot of ordinary Americans now that he has officially announced his intention to form a 2008 Presidential exploratory committee.

Tancredo recently made his announcement in Iowa, the site of the first U.S. presidential caucuses next year. The Colorado lawmaker has said on several occasions that he would only enter the race for the White House if none of the other GOP candidates made illegal immigration the major issue of the campaign.

Susan Tully, national field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), says Tancredo "has a tremendous following," as "80 to 90 percent of Americans think illegal immigration is a problem." She believes these concerned citizens will be pleased and excited over the congressman's plan to make immigration the campaign's "number-one issue."

However, Tully points out that Tancredo will face an uphill battle for the nomination and will receive no support from the National Republican party. "He will never have the money that the other candidates are going to have, and he's never going to have the party support," she asserts, "but he has the people's support, and it's going to take a grassroots effort."

And if Tancredo accomplishes nothing else, Tully adds, at the very least he will bring the illegal immigration issue to the forefront -- and, hopefully, force the other presidential candidates to talk about it.