Thread: Tancredo says he's leaving Congress

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/e ... 16,00.html

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
October 29, 2007
Even if he loses his long-shot bid for the White House, Rep. Tom Tancredo will be leaving the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of 2008.

Tancredo, 61 , waited until after the Colorado Rockies' last out of the World Series on Sunday night before announcing that he plans to retire from Congress at the end of this, his fifth term.

"It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue (immigration) about which I care greatly," he said.

Tancredo said other people are now taking up leadership on the immigration issue.

On a personal note, he added, "I am certainly looking forward to a time when at least a week can go by when I don't have to get on an airplane."

The decision is not a surprise, considering Tancredo's repeated complaints that his presidential run was taking a heavy toll on him and his family. But it is sure to set off a mad succession scramble in his solidly conservative, suburban Denver district.

Tancredo parlayed a back-bench seat in Congress into a national megaphone to oppose illegal immigration, denounce a so-called "cult of multiculturalism" and warn about a "clash of civilizations" between radical Islam and Western civilizations.

Those issues have been the centerpiece of Tancredo's bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, although he has yet to break out of single digits in most polls. That campaign continues, with the first votes scheduled in the Iowa precinct caucuses in January.

Until now, Tancredo has tried to put off any talk of what he would do if his White House bid fell flat. But over the summer, he began hinting that he had his eyes on a 2010 contest against Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat he sees as his polar opposite on the immigration issue.

He has often complained about the rigors of the presidential campaign trail, which has required him to spend more than 50 days in Iowa, and dozens more in New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states this year.

To run for congressional re-election, "I have to have the fire in the belly, and this takes a lot of effort, what I'm doing here," Tancredo said in a July interview in Iowa.

"I'm telling you, it just wears on you just generally, physically, everything," he said. "I just don't know whether I'll have the strength, the fire burning still."

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This is very sad, but maybe by 2010 he wil be ready to run for Salazar seat, with a little rest!! Salazar definitly needs replaced, and Tancredao would make a great Senator!



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I like Tom and wanted to write him in for President but if he's too tired to campaign, he's not going to make it as President. Too bad but at least now I know to move on to another candidate.

This announcement is like a bolt from the blue and coming right after he threatened Durbin with calling ICE on the Dreamers. Coincidence?

He knew he could not make it and several times said he would stay in there to make sure they talk about the illegal immigration,He is a true American!!

On Malkin's site:

Tom Tancredo: A positive force
By Michelle Malkin • October 29, 2007 04:06 PM

Tom Tancredo’s retiring from the House at the end of the year, but not from public and political life. He was pressing for border security and immigration enforcement long before many of the fairweather GOP proponents and TV talking heads made it their ratings-friendly cause. I’ve had the privilege of speaking with him and beside him at many grass-roots events and forums on the issue. His passion and his commitment to preserving American sovereignty are genuine and principled. Plus, he has sent the open borders zealots at the Wall Street Journal editorial board into innumerable snit fits, for which he deserves eternal thanks and praise.

John O’ Sullivan has a nice tribute:

I’m sorry that Tom Tancredo is retiring from Congress. He’s never been a favorite of the Corner, but I know him quite well and think very highly of his bravery, decency, and devotion to principle. Tom is an NR conservative of long standing—one of those people like Jim Talent who learned their conservatism at the feet of WFB. He is also one of the main reasons why immigration is now at the center of public debate. When he arrived in Congress, it was an issue that had been left fallow. He promptly established and built up a bipartisan immigration caucus that, first, forced the issue onto the main political agenda, and then blocked the White House and the two party leaderships from pushing through a misbegotten “comprehensiveâ€