Comments are being left after this article at the source link.
~~~

Tancredo stresses priority on choice
By MAGGIE O'BRIEN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER


July 22, 2007
Council Bluffs, Ia. - Tom Tancredo completed his "Save America Tour" in western Iowa on Saturday, speaking to about 60 potential voters at a morning town hall meeting in Council Bluffs about education, health care and immigration reform.

Tancredo, a five-term Colorado congressman, began the tour July 12 in an attempt to convince Iowa voters that he is the true conservative among the GOP presidential contenders.

He has based his campaign platform around illegal immigration and describes reform as crucial to the nation's survival.

But Tancredo, a former junior high school civics teacher who served as a U.S. secretary of education regional representative, also has strong views on public education. In Congress, Tancredo voted against the No Child Left Behind Act.

He supports school vouchers - certificates that allow parents to pay for their children's education at a school of their choice rather than public school - and increased overall parental involvement.

He supports tax credits for families who opt to send their children to private, parochial or home schools.

"I believe with all my heart that choice is an important thing in almost any endeavor," Tancredo said.

Recent polls have shown Tancredo's support among likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers at 4 percent or less.

Tancredo is banking on retail politics and the defeat of a Senate immigration bill to help him stand out at the Aug. 11 Republican straw poll in Ames.

Tancredo told the Council Bluffs group that high health care costs remain an important issue. Still, health care choices belong to people, not government, he said.

"The federal government should not build this little bubble around you," he said.

Tancredo said he is offended by the notion that illegal immigrants are willing to work at jobs that Americans wouldn't do.

The statement "is an insult to every American," he said.


http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs. ... /1001/NEWS