Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo entered the room and joked that his staff had invited the media to the ballroom in the downtown Des Moines Marriott to help him and his advisor, Bay Buchanan, celebrate their birthdays. UPDATE: Click to listen to Tancredo announcement — mp3 runs 15 minutes
"I guess we shall also proceed to the business at hand. For the past 10 years I have dedicated my public life to warning the nation to the perilous consequenhces of massive, illegal immigration," Tancredo began. "…This message unfortunately has fallen on deaf ears in the highest office in the land….and so in spite of what we knew at the time were incredibly long odds…We’ve always known the odds were enormous…and I am happy to say, I am ecstatic to say, we have made remarkable progress along those lines….It’s really been my pleasure…and something I will always treasure that so many folks have worked so hard in this endeavor….Accoridng to Newsweek, the Tancredo campaign has already won….
Tancredo continued, saying of his campaign: "I must end it." He indicated staying in the race might benefit other GOP candidates who he said are "abysmal on this (illegal immigration) issue."
"…I fear that remaining in this race…could contribute to the nomination of one of those candidates…We have come too far….the stakes are way too high for me to allow that to happen," he said.
"…There’s a candidate who meets several criteria from my point of view….He will secure our borders….he’ll require those who are presently here illegally to return home. He also has, by the way, a solid record that matches his rhetoric….He can go the distance. This morning I met with Governor Mitt Romney….I am withdrawing from this race and I am endorsing Governor Romney."
In answer to a reporter’s question, Tancredo says of Romney: "He is the best hope for our cause."
In answer to another question — about whether the rise of Huckabee had something to do with his decision, Tancredo said: "You bet your life it was."
Tancredo met with Romney for "over an hour" this morning, in order to "clarify" issues.
"Have a great Christmas everybody," is how Tancredo ended his time on stage.
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Romney is clearly now the anti-illegal immigration candidate. What candidate can win the support of ALL conservatives…fiscal, defense, AND social? Mitt’s the man!
Mitt’s also the man who continued to employ illegal immigrants a full year after this was brought to his attention. He’s also one who originally supported Bush’s immigration policies earlier this year, before he saw which way the wind is blowing. And what anti-illegal immigration record in Massachusetts is he running on exactly?
I agree.
Huckabee is an incredibly flawed candidate on so many levels – incompetent, Bush-bashing and Carteresque on foreign policy; has a soft-on-crime pardon record; was a tax-and-spend Governor with a D rating from Cato, and a record of him literally begging for higher taxes; has multiple ethics issues and citations as Governor, including examples of him using public funds for private use; has flipflopped on immigration, Cuba and other issues. nanny-stater on CO2 emissions and smoking; union-endorsed basher of big business; I could go on…
Why is such a god-awful candidate leading?
In their desperation to find a reliable prolife/ candidate, they’ve rejected many solid candidates who have less than 100% track record. So the social conservatives have jumped on the bandwagon of a man who is anything *but* conservative on practically anything else.
And the great pity of it all? … The man who just bowed out and endorsed Romney, Tancredo, was and is a 100% prolife social and fiscal conservative.
So by the way is Duncan Hunter, another true across-the-board conservative who’s at 1% in the polls.
If a true patriot like Rep. Tancredo endorsed Mitt Romney, then that’s good enough for ME! I’m not voting for either Democrats or Republicans who play along with the globalist, open-border, unfair free-market agenda? All the ultra-liberals have left and the anti-American organisations in our midst, is to use the race card. Not all the Hispanic people want unfettered illegal immigration. Those who come here legally want part of the American dream, just like any new member to join American society?
This has nothing to do with Hispanics as a race, but everything to do with the unsubmountable difference with legal and illegal! America welcomes every new potential citizen, but we do not need people who do not follow “THE RULE OF LAW.” No exceptions!
Mike Huckabee was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax increaser and spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes. The Arkansas Leader.com editorialized that Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years.
The National Education Association endorses any candidate who raises taxes and opposes school choice – thus they endorse Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee “broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America’s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity,” according to George Will.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission held proceedings 20 times on the former governor. During his tenure, Huckabee accepted 314 gifts valued overall at more than $150,000, according to documents filed with the Arkansas secretary of state’s office. (He accepted 187 gifts in his first three years as governor but was not required to report their value.)
Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned rapist Wayne DuMond’s guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, DuMond murdered a women in Illinois after Huckabee set him free
Huckabee battled conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures, such as:.
– proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren’t federally mandated
– proof of citizenship when registering to vote
– Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges.
He joined the Democratic chorus in indicting President Bush for his “arrogant bunker mentality.” Is he in the right party?
Huck’s use of the “Christian Leader” title and the Cross in his ads and his attempt to denigrate Mitt Romney’s religion is a thinly-veiled attempt to impose a religious test in violation of Article Six of the Constitution
The Huckster was the keynote speaker at an anti-Mormon conference in Salt Lake City. And he knows nothing about Mormons? And the “Christian Leader” doesn’t want to release his sermons?
He led the Arkansas Baptists liberal congregations in a dispute with the conservative Southern Baptist Conference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ry0xrOsqSQ
Mike fails on so many levels as a true conservative.
The moniker “Huckster” is well-earned.