Rep. Tancredo not to run again.
Colorado's Sixth District now an open seat.
By Moe Lane Posted in Breaking News — Comments (16) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
One way or the other, Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo won't be running for re-election to Congress.
Tancredo says he's leaving Congress
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain NewsEven 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.
(H/T Captain Ed)
Read on.
It has been suggested that Rep. Tancredo, should he not win the Presidential nomination, will instead try to unseat Senator Ken Salazar in 2010. While I am decidedly not on Tancredo's side in the immigration debate, as Captain Ed pointed out in his own article Salazar is potentially vulnerable to someone who can challenge him on that policy. As Tancredo looks like he can be a credible challenger - and as I have no real quarrel with the man outside of that one area* - I wish him luck, and I encourage all factions of the GOP to give him what support he'd need for his (hypothetical) Senate bid.
Moe
*Which is quite a large area, but when it comes to the Senate that's much less important, as I don't live in Colorado.
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Rep. Tancredo not to run again. 16 Comments (0 topical, 16 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
...he's not a bad fit, actually: popular in his district, can challenge Salazar on immigration, will have good name recognition, and so on. I don't know overmuch about CO politicians, so if there's a better choice that can win that's fine, but if not, sobeit.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Is that the Tank is just far enough off on this issue that he could end up having a long-term ill effect on Colorado's GOP, which eventually will need to find a way to get some Latino support for its long-term survival.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
If I weren't opposed to the NRSC getting into primaries I'd say they ought to pull out the stops in taking Tancredo down, should he run.
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It's important to note that he considered running for the seat in 2004 and decided against it because polling showed him not winning the R primary.
Perhaps things have changed, but I doubt Tancredo can win statewide. His reputation is anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant. Outside of a small group of reactionaries, those reputations do not sell. I'm sure there are GOPers in CO who are pro-border security and don't have the background of anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy.
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Just glad he's out of the House - not sure how I feel about him being in the Senate. I think he does the GOP more harm than good. I assume his seat will be a safe hold for us?
I think his seat is the safest in Colorado.
Anyhow, he won't be missed, at least by me. I'm more of a Lindsey Graham/Sam Brownback guy on immigration, but I at least respected common-sense voices on the other side. Tancredo is the poster child for everything that is wrong with the debate.
Jindal/Palin '16
The anti-illegal immigration hammer works better outside the Southwest. I'm not sure it'll be enough to win in a purple lean blue state, especially for someone who comes across as a moderate overall like Salazar. Unless of course Salazar isn't popular, what are his approvals like?
Tancredo should run for Senate. He will make people at least talk about uncomfortable and politically incorrect topics. It is a big boon for freedom of speech and freedom of choice.
Tcgeol, you are correct.
Tom Tancredo has been a reliable conservative.
Rep. Tancredo has the highest rating from the American Conservative Union, 97.8, of any candidate running for president. He has achieved a score of "100%" from the National Right to Life Committee for the 106th, 107th, 109th and the ongoing 110th Congress. Rep. Tancredo received a grade of "A" from the National Rifle Association for the 2006 election cycle. He has received an "A' rating from the Gun Owners of America for his votes in the 110th Congress. He has received an "A" from then National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for each year that he served in Congress and has received a "Taxpayers' Friend Award" for each year that he has served in Congress. On multiple occasions he has ranked among the top five of all four hundred thirty-five members of the United States House of Representatives in NTU's rankings of house members.
How many members of Congress have a voting record that is as solidly conservative as Tom Tancredo's voting record in Congress?
Though at least one poster on this thread would like to see Tom Tancredo kicked out of the Republican Party, I believe that Tom Tancredo has served his Republican constituents in the sixth congressional district of Colorado well and while in Congress has fought for many important conservative causes that conservatives across the country are fighting for every day.
There is no candidate running for president that is more pro-life than Tom Tancredo. He has been one hundred percent pro-life his entire political careeer.
Tom Tancredo is as fiscally conservative as any candidate running for president.
Tom Tancredo has never been involved in a single ethical scandal during his entire political career.
I hope he doesn't run for a United States Senate seat. The Tancredo haters that want him kicked out of the GOP or are simply glad that he is leaving Congress should have the chance to see how three separate Republican nominees for Senate without the last name of "Tancredo" fare during a six-year period. Unforutnately, Pete Coors lost to Ken Salazar in 2004. I hope the 2008 and 2010 Senate elections produce GOP victories. However, I would not want to see Rep. Tancredo's name on the ballot in either of those contests because I don't want to see the Tancredo haters have a chance to place blame on Tom Tancredo for a GOP loss in either or both of those elections. Actually, I believe that at least a few of the Tancredo haters would prefer Ken Salazar as a United States senator over Tom Tancredo. If Tancredo was the GOP nominee for United States senator in 2010, I believe that some of the Tancredo haters would hope for him to lose.
"The defense of our nation begins with the defense of our borders." - Rep. Tom Tancredo
It frustrates me to no end when some people think that the Republican party needs to be "politically incorrect" like a sniggering 16 year old in the back of the biology class.
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The idea is to not be afraid of something because it is politically incorrect. Thought fascism is one of the left's primary weapons, and they use it best through the peer pressure mentality of political correctness.
We, as Republicans, should reject Political Correctness on the grounds that the left uses it as a weapon against us specifically. Not on the general grounds that offensive = good.
absentee
Congressman Tancredo is a great man and served a good role in Congress. Tancredo was one of the few who spoke up about our open border madness when few Republicans were interested.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill