Thread: Money Tancredo's biggest worry

Money Tancredo's biggest worry
Candidate still languishing in most Iowa polls

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
September 15, 2007

REMSEN, Iowa - A high school cheerleader dropped the rah-rah act on Friday and asked Rep. Tom Tancredo the tough question at the heart of his White House bid.

"Is there a reason you haven't become more widely known? Are you waiting for something?"

The question from 17-year- old Kelsey Gries of Remsen-Union High School caused an eruption of laughter inside the school band room where Tancredo was lecturing a government class.

But the congressman didn't miss a beat.

"Yes," Tancredo replied. "I'm waiting for somebody to drop $300 million on me. Any offers here? Part of it definitely is a money issue."

Later, Tancredo called it a terrific question and one that was easy to answer.

Money isn't everything. But in politics, it's a lot of it.

So, despite Tancredo's noticeable success in getting rival Republicans to adopt parts of his message opposing illegal immigration and blasting radical Islam, he's still languishing in most polls here in Iowa and elsewhere around the country.

Meanwhile, better-known, better-bankrolled candidates like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Sen. Fred Thompson continue to dominate the polls.

And Tancredo, still stuck at 3 percent in the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll of Iowa voters, remains obscure - but hopeful.

He's still anonymous enough that he was able to wander in and out of the Ice Cream Capital of the World Museum in Le Mars, Iowa, on Friday afternoon without anyone recognizing him - not even when he posed next to a glossy photo of his hero, former President Reagan, hanging on the wall of the diner.

That museum trip inspired a new laugh line for Tancredo when he gave his civics lesson that afternoon. And the money question put his challenge in context for the dozen and a half high school seniors, most of whom will be eligible to vote in 2008.

"If you don't have a lot of money, you're probably not going to be the best-known person," Tancredo said.

This is a critical point in every candidate's presidential campaign. As of Friday, there were exactly four months to the scheduled date of Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, when voters will gather in house-party like settings and effectively start winnowing down the presidential field for the rest of the country.

The money chase is one of the key battles, and over the next two weeks campaigns will be racing to collect enough new contributions that their candidacies still appear viable when the third-quarter results become public on Oct. 15.Tancredo has been running sixth in Republican campaign fundraising for much of the year - before Thompson's entry this month. Through the last official reporting date after the end of June, Tancredo had raised about $2.8 million, mostly through small contributions of a few hundred dollars or less.

This week, Tancredo got good news on the money front, when his campaign - and that of Sen. John McCain - were certified by the Federal Election Commission as qualifying for federal matching funds, which are available to campaigns that agree to stay within specified spending limits.

The FEC matches contributions smaller than $250 apiece from the pool of funds donated when people check-off a special box on their federal tax forms. All those small, grassroots contributions are coming in handy for Tancredo, who expects an estimated $2 million infusion of matching funds in early January.

The campaign already is making arrangements to borrow against that expected amount now, when the congressman still needs to raise his profile.

At a diner in Le Mars, Tancredo joked about how he has had to run on a shoestring budget since the Iowa GOP's Straw Poll in early August, when the campaign poured money into television ads, tickets and transportation for supporters, and an elaborate party, before he posted a fourth-place showing.

"We broke our pick on that," Tancredo said, using an old mining reference.

He said he has had to be thrifty since then, like when he stayed at a less than four-star hotel in Iowa where the sign in the bathroom read: "Do not use our towels to wash your car."

The matching funds allow Tancredo to continue his campaign, although he still does not know for how long. He needs a surprisingly high showing in Iowa, New Hampshire or another early state to continue.

Still, he's having a hard time gaining traction in the polls, and more and more his speaking time has been reduced during nationally televised debates.

"It is agonizing to stand there, looking like a 9th-grader jumping up and down with your hand up to get attention," he said.On Friday, it was the high school students who raised their hands to ask questions, and one wanted to know Tancredo's biggest weaknesses.

"Number one, I am very controversial," Tancredo said. "The issues I take on, (including) immigration, are very controversial. People who run for office usually try to shy away from controversial issues or try to skirt them. And the money. Those are the two biggest obstacles I face."

rockymountainnews

If people would rather support 'namebrands' then they will have to accept the cheap quality of made in china. Tancredo is our opportunity to get the best for less!

And that's exactly why I've been sending his as much money as I've been able to since he began campaigning! Love that man!!!