2008 Presidential Campaign
In February 2005, Tancredo announced he would seek the Republican nomination for president if all other candidates failed to address the illegal immigration problem.
Tancredo said he intended to visit New Hampshire and Iowa, declaring Bush should “ the threat illegal immigrants pose to the country's security.” Tancredo claimed federal prisons are overflowing with illegal immigrants, some of whom aim to "harm people." Tancredo has said that such individuals "need to be found before it is too late. They're coming here to kill you, and you, and me, and my grandchildren."
In July 2005, Tancredo confirmed he was moving toward a presidential run.
On February 9, 2006, Tancredo addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual conference of the American Conservative Union,. He scored 5% of the vote in the 2008 CPAC straw poll.
On January 16, 2007, Tancredo announced that he formed an exploratory committee on seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. He said that the Republican Party needs someone who can offer America a "common sense agenda".
A spokesman for Tancredo's exploratory committee has confirmed that he would not run on a third party platform, and that "they've had no intention to run as a third-party candidate, ever, and we'll never consider that because he's a Republican, period".
On February 13, the American Conservative Union issued ratings for potential presidential candidates. Tancredo took first with a lifetime ranking of 99 out of 100. The website ConservativesBetrayed.com polled 525 people who attended CPAC 2007, and 88.1% believed that Tancredo would govern as a conservative. Newt Gingrich polled next at 87.9%.
At the 2007 CPAC conference, held March 1–3, Tancredo was ranked sixth in the CPAC straw poll, with 9%, when first and second choices were combined.
On April 2, 2007, Tancredo announced that he would run for President in the 2008 election. This announcement was made on 1040 WHO Talk Radio in Iowa. He denounced other Republican candidates for their lack of consistency on the illegal immigration issue, the issue on which Tancredo will run. In early April, he also participated in what was billed as the first online presidential debate, against fellow Republican and presidential candidate Duncan Hunter.
A quote from Tancredo's speech in 2007 to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was as follows:
If you want to call me a single-issue candidate, that's fine, just so long as you know that my single issue is the survival and the success of the conservative movement in America.
In a May 3, 2007 debate among the ten candidates for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination, Tancredo was one of three who raised their hands when asked if anyone did not believe in the theory of evolution.
On August 10, 2007, Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign reportedly was the victim of an e-mail hoax on the eve of the Republican Party straw poll in Ames, Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that a hoax e-mail sent on Friday to almost 500 Tancredo supporters told them — falsely — that chartered buses to ferry them to the daylong events had either been cancelled or delayed.
On September 5, 2007, during a visit to Concord, New Hampshire, Tancredo made it clear that he supports strictly enforcing immigration laws and deporting all illegal immigrants. He believes so-called sanctuary policies provide safe havens for criminals. Tancredo also mentioned his support of the building of a fence between Mexico and the United States, and that mayors and city council members who adopt sanctuary city policies should face criminal charges. He urged New Hampshire Governor John H. Lynch to veto an upcoming immigration bill and demanded the ouster of the bill's sponsors.
On November 13, 2007, the Tancredo campaign released an ad called "Tough on Terror" in which a hypothetical terrorist attack occurs in a shopping mall. The ad blames inept border security for the attack and flashes images of an injured child and a wrecked train. A voiceover comments, "There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs ... the price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill."
On his 62nd birthday December 20, 2007, Tancredo formally ended his candidacy for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination, and endorsed Mitt Romney.
Individual contributions made up the most of the campaign cash that Tancredo had received, being about 97% of his total pocketbook. PAC contributions were low, only around $75,500, of the $1,311,869 He granted himself $200 for his campaign and received no federal funding. $88,457 of his money came from interest from the campaign's bank accounts and loans from outside sources. It should be noted that the majority of Tancredo's funds were not disclosed.
Read more about this topic: Tom Tancredo
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