Tancredo Quits GOP Race, Endorses Romney

Republican Rep. Made Opposition To Illegal Immigration The Centerpiece Of His Campaign

(CBS/AP)  Rep. Tom Tancredo dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday and endorsed rival Mitt Romney.

Tancredo, a five-term congressman from Colorado, had based his campaign on fighting illegal immigration and has run television ads that link lax border control to terrorist attacks, rape and other crimes. He has consistently polled at the bottom of the nine-person Republican field.

He announced his withdrawal two weeks before Iowa begins the presidential nominating process with the precinct caucuses.

Tancredo, who has consistently polled at the bottom of the nine-man Republican field, said he decided to drop out in part because of concern that his presence could split the vote for other candidates who have taken a hard line on immigration, helping those who would take a less restrictive approach.

"I fear remaining in this race, one which I cannot win, would contribute to the nomination of one of these candidates," he said.

In the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, Tancredo received just one percent support among Republican primary voters nationwide.

In Iowa, he received three percent support among likely caucus goers in a CBS News/New York Times poll last month.

Tancredo identified Mike Huckabee and John McCain as two Republican candidates whose records indicate they wouldn't be tough enough on immigration.

"We have done too much, we have come too far for me to allow that to happen," Tancredo said.

Romney was campaigning in Iowa and planned to make a statement later Thursday.

Tancredo said he and Romney met Thursday for more than an hour and he left the meeting convinced that the former Massachusetts governor would do what's necessary to fight illegal immigration.

None of the other candidates hit the issue as hard as Tancredo. One of his campaign ads showed a man in a hooded sweat shirt with a backpack in a crowded mall. The screen goes dark at the sound of an explosion, then shows clips of the aftermath of terrorist acts in Europe.

Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University in Des Moines, said Tancredo forced his GOP rivals to talk about immigration.

"What Tancredo has done is analogous to what a third-party candidate does," Goldford said. "They call attention to and articulate an issue that the other two main parties neglect or don't see" and then after forcing the issue they disappear.

Tancredo announced in October that he would not seek a sixth term in Congress, but hinted he would consider running for the Senate after his presidential bid.

Colorado will have an open Senate seat next year when Republican Wayne Allard retires.

Fears about illegal immigration boosted Tancredo's profile, but it didn't translate into support as reflected by his low standing in national and state polls and his limited fundraising. In part, candidates such as Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani usurped Tancredo's hardline stance on the issue, prompting the congressman to quip at one debate that "all I've heard is people trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo."

Tancredo drew criticism for a controversial campaign ad that showed a man in a hooded sweat shirt with a backpack in a crowded mall. The screen goes dark at the sound of an explosion, and then the ad shows clips of the aftermath of terrorist acts in Europe, including a picture of a bloodied child.

"There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs," a narrator says. "Islamic terrorists now freely roam U.S. soil, jihadists who froth with hate, here to do as they have in London, Spain, Russia. The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill."

"I approve this message because someone needs to say it," Tancredo says at the beginning of the ad. (Click here to read more and watch the ad.)

Tancredo took credit in July for some of the political woes that have befallen McCain, once the front-runner in the GOP race. Tancredo has hammered McCain in Iowa and other states for supporting a failed immigration bill in Congress that would have legalized millions of immigrants now in the country.

The grandson of an Italian immigrant, Tancredo says he became angry about illegal immigration because of bilingual education requirements in schools. He says those requirements turned out students who were illiterate in two languages.

Tancredo wants the military to patrol U.S. borders and employers to be required to prove a need for short-term foreign workers.

Never shy about stirring controversy, Tancredo told a radio talk-show host that "you could take out" Islamic holy sites should terrorists ever launch a nuclear attack against the United States.

When asked if he meant bombing holy sites like Mecca, Tancredo answered: "Yeah" and said he was "just throwing out some ideas."

[jonesforch]

MERRY CHRISTMAS

[pelostilaho]

Tancredo,

You might as well have endorsed Ron Paul. Mitt Romney is a Mormon joke.

Fred Thompson should have been your choice. Frankly after all your tough talk, this choice is soooooooo hypocritical and disappointing.

[coolprophet]

We have got to realize that we are being conditioned on a mass scale. Start challenging this corporate slave state that rules over us all. The Twenty-first Century is going to be a new century. Not the Century of Slavery. Not the Century of Lies. It''s going to be age of Americans standing up for something pure and something right. What a bunch of garbage--liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans. It''s all a phony, poorly-staged, left-right paradigm designed to control you. It''s two sides of the same coin--two management teams bidding for the CEO job of Slavery Incorporated. The truth is out there in front of you, hidden in plain sight, but they lay-out this buffet of lies for us to consume. I''m sick of it, and I''m not going to take a bite out of it anymore. Ron Paul is going to win this thing. The American people are too good. We''re not a bunch of underachievers. We''re going to stand-up together and beat the odds. We are going to get fired-up and use our creativity, our enegy, and our burning desire for freedom to show Slavery Incorporated that the dynamic human spirit of the Twenty-first Century refuses to submit.

[hwy71so]

There''s a lot of Mormons living in Colorado...

[simonsez40]

If Americans liked Ronald Reagan they are going to love Mitt Romney............best candidate hands down!


Posted by perception5

Oh sweet Jesus I just regurgitated! I think a Democrat will be the next president. Republicans have made the majority of Americans angry..........

[hwy71so]

"I am glad to see that an old fashioned racist, hatefulled campaign doesn''''t have a chance in the 21st century.

Posted by koko98 at 11:17 AM : Dec 20, 2007"

What''s racist about wanting security from illegal immigration? Considering these illegals are taking for free what the legal immigrants are paying hard earned money, effort and time for? I think you''re the one with a racist agenda.

[perception5]

Mitt Romney will be the GOP nominee and the 45th President of the USA.

All the candidates for the Dems are Junior 1-term Senators except for Hillary Rotten Clinton who is just starting her 2nd term. The Dems candidates are also pretty far to the left for most Americans. Just two reasons why no Dems take the White House in 2008.

America is the largest enterprise in the world and Mitt Romney is the only candidate from either party that is qualified to run this enterprise.

If Americans liked Ronald Reagan they are going to love Mitt Romney............best candidate hands down!

[keithle1]

On the Democratic side, if you''re not Clinton, Obama or Edwards, you need to start thinking about dropping out. You''re going to get your head handed to you in Iowa. Why waste money? You''re tired. Your family is tired. Do us all a favor. Disappear.

[keithle1]

The only people that cared about Tancredo running were his wife & mother. Next to drop out will be Mr. Invisible Duncan Hunter.

[coolprophet]

MORMONS ARE GOOD PEOPLE
There are lots of Mormons where I live. For the most part, they are good people, but they mostly keep to themselves. However, they do have some strange beliefs: that people of color are descendants of Lucifer (Lamanites); that they need to wear special undergarments they obtain from their church; celestial marriage; that mankind was created on a different planet and planted here by the Mormon Jesus and his Brother, Lucifer. There''s more, but I''ll spare you. Research it yourself. I personally think Joseph Smith ate some really good mushrooms before Moroni appeared to him in the woods of New York and inspired him to write the Book of Mormon. I don''t hold anything against Romney for being Mormon, though. I don''t like him because Romney, like Giuliani, is soft on illegal immigration and national sovereignty (as most globalist CFR members are), and he''s a war-monger who approves the use of torture. I love my country, and with a guy like him in office, Old Glory will be coming down soon, and the North American Union flag goes up. They are already minting the "Amero" (the replacement for the Dollar) at the U.S. Mint in Denver, and most people are clueless. Why do you think The Fed is tanking our Dollar. It''s the age old "Problem Reaction Solution" dialectic--after they cause our economy to collapse, we''ll be begging them to save us with their new, silver-based NAU currency. Ron Paul is the only candidate who has done anything to protect U.S. sovereignty.