http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 40,00.html


Tancredo joins in backing Blunt for majority leader

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
January 24, 2006


Rep. Tom Tancredo and more than three dozen members of his Immigration Reform Caucus have backed Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., as House majority leader.
Their support has helped Blunt build the largest list of declared endorsements in the three-way contest against Reps. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz.

Still, the race to replace Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is considered unpredictable heading into the Feb. 2 vote. Shadegg was a late entry into the race and, in past leadership elections, early endorsements have not always translated into votes on the secret ballot.

Tancredo, R-Littleton, is the first of Colorado's four Republican members to make a public endorsement. Blunt, the acting majority leader, won Tancredo's early support because of his role shepherding tough border-control legislation through the House in December.

"Mr. Blunt played an extremely important part in getting through the most important immigration reform bill Congress has seen in a decade," Tancredo spokesman Will Adams said Monday.

At least 38 of the 91 members of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus have endorsed Blunt. But many made their endorsements before Shadegg, who also belongs to the caucus, entered the race.

As of Monday, the newspaper The Hill listed Blunt as having 91 declared supporters compared with 47 for Boehner and 8 for Shadegg.

But after losing his party's leadership election years ago, Mo Udall, father of Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, famously told colleagues: "I'd like to thank the 130 Democratic congressmen who pledged themselves to vote for me - and the 60 who voted for me."

So far, Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, Bob Beauprez, R-Arvada, and Joel Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, have not announced their endorsements.

A columnist in the San Francisco Chronicle has cited Hefley's work presiding over the Ethics Committee when it admonished DeLay for alleged ethical lapses in 2004.

"If Republicans want to convince voters that they've reformed, here's a suggestion: Pick Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., to replace DeLay," Debra Saunders wrote.

While Hefley, 70, decides whether to run for an 11th term representing Colorado Springs, he has been approached by a handful of colleagues suggesting he seek the majority leader job, spokeswoman Kim Sears said Monday. "He's not actively seeking the position," Sears