Thread: Tancredo peddling his message in Iowa

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state ... 84,00.html

Tancredo peddling his message in Iowa
Congressman's visit steps up speculation about presidency bid

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
July 8, 2005

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Rep. Tom Tancredo started barnstorming through eastern Iowa on Thursday, talking immigration to religious conservatives and stepping up his flirtation with the 2008 presidential race.

The Littleton Republican arrived in Moline, Ill., then made the short drive across the Mississippi River into Davenport.

Iowa is home to the first presidential caucuses in 2008, and Tancredo wants the big-name contenders to take up his crusade to stop illegal immigration. He's also thinking about a run himself.

"If you don't approach this thing as if you are completely serious, you can't accomplish any goal," he said.

Tancredo started speculation about his role in the 2008 race earlier this year, when he made a brief stop in the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire.

But the Iowa trip represents a serious escalation, since he is spreading his message to a conservative constituency that rarely focuses on immigration but is considered crucial for anyone seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

Through Saturday, Tancredo is scheduled to appear at small receptions hosted by the Christian Coalition of Iowa in homes in Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Dubuque. In between, he plans to do interviews with the state's largest Christian radio outlet and others, and to meet with the man who once managed the presidential candidacy of Pat Buchanan.

The trip is being coordinated by Buchanan's sister, Angela "Bay" Buchanan, who leads the Team America PAC that Tancredo founded to advance tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

Bay Buchanan, a veteran political operative, said that one way or another, "We will have somebody who is committed to the (immigration) issue" on the presidential ballot in 2008.

"There'll be either a groundswell that will make Tom feel this is a possibility . . . or it could be a big name like (Virginia Senator) George Allen (who) becomes a champion on this issue," Bay Buchanan said before the trip.

So far, though, she does not think Allen or any other likely contender has shown a serious commitment to make fighting illegal immigration a priority. "I am always afraid of campaign converts," she said.

In 2004, Tancredo laughed when a group in Tennessee started a write-in campaign for him.

"A lot of people think my politics are crazy, but I'm not delusional," Tancredo told a reporter at the time. "I don't think I'm going to be president of the United States."

As Christian Coalition volunteers led Tancredo on an afternoon tour of the Davenport River Walk area, he was asked if he still believed in that 2004 statement.

"At the moment I said it, it was true, and I still think it's a . . . longshot," Tancredo said.

Mostly, Tancredo tried to dodge the 2008 question: "I'm just a traveler, hanging on for the ride," he said at one point.

Still, everywhere he went - from a round of radio interviews to an evening reception in a posh neighborhood - curious Iowans wanted to know if he plans to seek the presidency. "It's in God's hands," Tancredo said.

But Bay Buchanan thinks he might be underestimating himself, considering all the attention he has brought to immigration.

"I suspect Tom is an extremely effective candidate - more so than he realizes," she said.

At a reception, Tancredo stood in front of about 50 Christian Coalition guests and spoke about illegal immigration challenging what it means to be an American. He said that's because, unlike past immigrants like his Italian-born grandfather, many illegal immigrants do not sever political and spiritual ties to their home countries and strive to become Americans.

"It is the issue of trying to determine who we are," Tancredo said. "Knowing who we are as Americans is becoming harder and harder."

Though Tancredo's rhetoric has drawn him fire from critics back home in Colorado, he met only applause in the crowd of Iowa conservatives. He urged them to start raising the immigration issue with not only presidential candidates, but state and local officials, too.

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"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a brave and scarce man, hated and scorned. When the cause succeeds, however, the timid join him...for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." -Mark Twain

"There are people in the administration, and in Mexico, and in Congress, who believe that we should do away with borders entirely. Their ultimate goal is to create this hemispheric ‘free trade’ area consolidating all of North and South America into some kind of ‘United States of the Americas." -Tom Tancredo

God love him. I can't wait until he comes to visit NH again.

Welcome, nhantimassredrebel Glad you found us!

He is in my district and I have never even seen him in person yet hoping too!

visit http://tancredo.house.gov/ (sign up for his newsletter even if you aren't in his district)
http://www.teamamericapac.org/index.shtml
http://www.tancredostore.com/

Originally Posted by nhantimassredrebel

God love him. I can't wait until he comes to visit NH again.

I have tried to private message you. However, I'm not sure that I succeeded.