In today's online edition of The Tennesseean, an article was published that reported on the Souther Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC). It was written by Bonna de la Cruz, a staff writer for The Tennesseean. This is the first news article concerning the SRLC that I saw appear in any newspaper. Here is a link to that article: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 90403/1001.

The SRLC starts today. The SRLC invited sixteen (16) potential presidential candidates, but did not invite Cong. Tancredo. Here is a link to the webpage on the SRLC's website that lists the invited portential presidential candidates: http://www.srlc.org/113005.html. Here is a list of the invited potential presidential candidates that has been copied from that webpage:

Sen. George Allen (R-VA)
Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)(
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL)
Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN)
Ex-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA)
Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY)
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Gov. George Pataki (R-NY)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)
Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN)

Please call and e-mail Bonna de la Cruz and ask her to investigate why Cong. Tancredo was excluded from the SRLC. The phone number for Ms. de la Cruz is (615) 726-5990. Her e-mail address is BDELACRUZ@TENNESSEAN.COM.

Cong. Tancredo finished sixth in a straw poll at the February meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Here is a link to a story that includes polling results from that conference: http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12373. Every person listed in the poll results have been invited, except Cong. Tancredo, including people that finished below him in the poll. Below is a copy of that portion article that contains the results:

Here are the results:

Thinking ahead to the 2008 presidential election, who do you think will be the next Republican nominee for President?

George Allen: 22%
John McCain: 20%
Rudy Giuliani: 12%
Condoleezza Rice: 10%
Bill Frist: 6%
Tom Tancredo: 5%
Mitt Romney: 5%
Newt Gingrich: 5%
Rick Santorum: 3%
George Pataki: 3%
Undecided: 4%

*All others tested received 1% or less