Tancredo Watch

Congressman Shows Strength in Poll, TV Spat

By Howard Rothman, 3-22-06

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado's most quotable elected official, is starting to raise a few more eyebrows around the country. An undeclared but unabashed player in the initial stages of the '08 Republican presidential race, the suburban Denver Congressman on Wednesday was in a virtual tie with Rudy Giuliani for second-place behind only John McCain in an ongoing MSNBC Virtual Straw Poll measuring the early strength of a potential field of 12 contenders. He had double the votes of Mitt Romney and Chuck Hagel, and even bigger leads on the likes of George Allen, Sam Brownback and Bill Frist. As Colorado Pols points out today, Tancredo now says he may run for the U.S. Senate in 2008 as well. Combined with his ongoing Congressional re-election bid, this should give him plenty of opportunity to at least keep his pet projects (read: immigration reform) on the front burner — as he did in a television debate last week with Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois that erupted into a "screaming, epithet-laden fracas."

Now, that’s the way to raise eyebrows.

Update: Tancredo's national profile continues to rise, as evidenced by a lengthy piece in the new issue of Newsweek focused on the way "Tom Tancredo is pulling the immigration debate to the right—and away from Bush."

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