Tancredo to Drop Out and Endorse Thompson?
Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign is planning a "major announcement" on Thursday in Des Moines. PJM's Richard Miniter thinks the Colorado congressman will likely drop out of the race and endorse Fred Thompson.
The Tancredo presidential campaign is planning a “major announcement” at 2 PM tomorrow in Des Moines. The flash media advisory is here.
“Major announcement” is code phrase used by the campaigns and understood by the press to mean “dropping out of the race.” (Some candidates have been known to abuse this unwritten understanding to win some attention for what turns out to be some boring policy speech. It only creates lingering press hatred for them.)
Until this just-released media advisory from Tancredo’s campaign, it was widely believed that Tancredo intended to stay in the race at least until the January 3 Iowa Caucuses.
But something bigger than Congressman Tom Tancredo’s departure from the presidential race may be in the works.
Moments ago, I spoke to a former official of Colorado’s Secretary of State office, which sets the rules for that state’s elections. Speaking under condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to talk to the press, she said that there is “no reason for Tancredo to drop out now.”
“Unlike other states, Colorado does not have a January filing deadline for candidates,” running for federal office. Tancredo is not legally required to declare his intentions regarding the seat he now holds in the U.S. House of Representatives. Nor is he required by law to file to run for Colorado’s open U.S. Senate seat in the next few months. Senator Wayne Allard, a Republican, announced plans to retire and friends of Tancredo believe he wants to run for that seat.
The Colorado GOP will want Tancredo to make up his mind (about running for one house of Congress or the other) sometime before that state’s Feb. 5 party caucuses.
Some suspect that Tancredo will not only drop out of the race, but endorse Fred Thompson.
The Politico points out: “Perhaps most notably, Tancredo’s close friend, Rep. Steve King, passed over his colleague and threw his support behind Fred Thompson this week. King and Tancredo have worked closely on immigration and many in Iowa thought King would not endorse as long as Tancredo was in the race.”
Will Tancredo endorse Thompson and shake up the race in Iowa? Tancredo loathes Mike Huckabee, the putative front-runner in Iowa, and has fought bitterly against Senator John McCain on immigration and other issues. As for Rudy Guiliani, Tancredo and the former New York mayor are far apart on immigration and social issues.
By process of elimination, it seems likely that Tancredo will follow the lead of his friend, Congressman Steve King, and endorse Fred Thompson.
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7 Comments
1. Anthony:Good article, I think Tancredo is likely to run for that Senate seat as well as endorse Fred.
Colorado is slowly becoming increasingly unfriendly to Republican candidates. I hope that if Tanc wins the Senate seat that he can reverse this very bad trend.
Dec 19, 2007 - 2:04 pm 2. Matt:The thing with Tancredo’s campaign is, I feel, that it was never really a serious run in the first place. The campaign in and of itself was a policy statement and a cause to raise awareness on the immigration issue.
Tancredo endorsing Thompson brings good and bad. The Tanc’s crusade against illegals while on principle is valiant, also stems quite close to racism. In several ways, his attitude and comments hurt his own movement. While the chance for backlash on this with Tancredo associating himself with Thompson (with an endorsement) is slim, the possibility still is there.
While the immigration issue is clearly what voters on the Right care about as is witnessed in the recent Ohioan special election, a shroud of extremism is definitely not what Thompson needs if he is to win over the moderates and swing voters.
In the instance of running for Senate, Tancredo may do well to look at the example of the state of Michigan. A vast rural state with strong republican ties in the House but a long history of Democratic Senators due to huge liberal urban voting blocs. The people of Colorado enjoyed Allard as a Senator because while he was a solid conservative he did not stir the pot. Tancredo on the other hand, would. This is something the gradually left-leaning voter in Colorado would consider.
Dec 19, 2007 - 3:13 pm 3. Herr Morgenholz:This analysis makes sense, especially vis a vis Rep. King’s endorsement. I was pulling for the Tanc, but it was always obvious he was a fifth tier candidate. If he throws his little bit of weight behind Fred, given the fluidity of this race, it could be an interesting couple of weeks.
Dec 19, 2007 - 5:14 pm 4. levotb:I do not think it is “a given” that Tancredo will endorse Thompson. He may hold off endorsing ANYone until they come pandering to him.
Miniter fails to point out at what a blow to Romney Rep. Steve King’s endorsement was the other day. Romney had been plying for King’s endorsement for a year.
Also, Miniter fails to mention two other candidates who Tancredo might endorse–Hunter and Paul. Paul has the money to stay in, Hunter doesn’t. Tancredo’s endorsing Thompson would end Hunter’s campaign only because Hunter was actually behind Tancredo at the 1 and 2% rate. So, another candidate may topple shortly.
Dec 19, 2007 - 5:59 pm 5. freetoken:Would it help any of the frontrunners to have Tancredo endorse them?
Tancredo is often labeled a “nativist”, which is often a euphemism for “racist”.
Huckabee, with his inclusivity (and socialism) is more in keeping with the US population as a whole, while Tancredo (and somewhat Hunter) represent an increasingly shrinking minority.
Thus if Fred is shopping for endorsements, I doubt Tancredo’s will really help.
Dec 19, 2007 - 7:06 pm 6. Sir Andrew:My God….this look amazingly awesome.
I wonder if Fred would make Tom the next Secretary of Homeland Security?
Dec 19, 2007 - 8:12 pm 7. Fred Right and True !!:Tancredo a racist what?? The man tries to protect America from becoming a 3rd world country and you call him racist the man is a Patriot!! Oh lets not call them illegal Aliens boo hoo its not politically correct?? I prefer to call them Mexicans oh wait people crossing the southern border ?? What country is south of the USA gimme a break we need Fred Thompson he will protect our Borders Kill the terrorists and punch the Hippies!! Tancredo did a great job of opening Americas eyes to the Immigration problem I hope he endorses Fred! so Fred can close the deal!! http://www.fred08.com
Dec 20, 2007 - 8:51 am