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Tancredo's Drudge campaign: Defeat amnesty, politicians
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer and Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5573297,00.html
Rep. Tom Tancredo ratcheted up his presidential bid and anti-illegal immigration crusade today with a hot-button Web ad declaring: "Tom Tancredo: Defeat amnesty politicians."
The red-and-blue advertisement on DrudgeReport.com linked to the Colorado Republican's campaign Web site statement imploring: "Defeat Amnesty AND the Amnesty Politicians ... Join 'The Save America Campaign.' "
"Today I am launching a campaign to stop the U.S. Senate from selling out our country by giving amnesty to over fifteen million illegal aliens — but I can't do it without your help," stated Tancredo. He asked supporters to sign an online "No Amnesty" petition and to call their senators, providing a link to all lawmakers' phone numbers.
Before last night's Republican presidential candidate debate, Tancredo told reporters he plans to change direction in his campaign so he can pressure fellow Republicans into rejecting the congressional immigration reform plan he considers "amnesty." He said he will scale back his weekly visits to the early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Tancredo said he would spend more time traveling to Republican-held congressional districts around the country. There, he hopes to pressure GOP incumbents in their own backyards, threatening to work for their defeats unless they help block the immigration reform bill now pending in the Senate.
"This is the whole ballgame here to a large extent," Tancredo said.
He said the Save America campaign is needed to halt a the immigration bill which would "destroy our great nation" and open the floodgates to even more illegal immigration.
Targeting fellow Republicans is nothing new for Tancredo. Team America, a political action committee he founded, aggressively targeted Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, in last year's GOP primary. Cannon eventually won re-election.
The committee also tried to influence races in California, Arizona and elsewhere. Cannon spokesman Fred Piccolo said Tancredo's efforts didn't work in 2006.
"If his poll numbers are any indication, then he's not catching fire with the Republican base on an issue that's front and center," Piccolo said.
Tancredo has been polling below the margin of error in polls around the country.
This week, the Senate is debating a bipartisan bill that could grant legal status to millions of people who are in the country illegally. If approved, it then would go to the House of Representatives, where opponents of the White House-backed plan hope to make a last stand.
Backers, including Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., say the legislation is a realistic way of dealing with the more than 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the country. The legislation also includes border security and enforcement provisions.
Fighting illegal immigration and the White House-backed legislation has been the centerpiece of Tancredo's uphill presidential campaign. He has focused heavily on the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire in hopes of gaining momentum to win in later primaries.
"We haven't changed any plans we already have for Iowa and New Hampshire," said spokesman Alan Moore. "The whole focus of him traveling is to stop this bill. He's going to go wherever he's needed to make the best case to kill this."
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer and Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5573297,00.html
Rep. Tom Tancredo ratcheted up his presidential bid and anti-illegal immigration crusade today with a hot-button Web ad declaring: "Tom Tancredo: Defeat amnesty politicians."
The red-and-blue advertisement on DrudgeReport.com linked to the Colorado Republican's campaign Web site statement imploring: "Defeat Amnesty AND the Amnesty Politicians ... Join 'The Save America Campaign.' "
"Today I am launching a campaign to stop the U.S. Senate from selling out our country by giving amnesty to over fifteen million illegal aliens — but I can't do it without your help," stated Tancredo. He asked supporters to sign an online "No Amnesty" petition and to call their senators, providing a link to all lawmakers' phone numbers.
Before last night's Republican presidential candidate debate, Tancredo told reporters he plans to change direction in his campaign so he can pressure fellow Republicans into rejecting the congressional immigration reform plan he considers "amnesty." He said he will scale back his weekly visits to the early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Tancredo said he would spend more time traveling to Republican-held congressional districts around the country. There, he hopes to pressure GOP incumbents in their own backyards, threatening to work for their defeats unless they help block the immigration reform bill now pending in the Senate.
"This is the whole ballgame here to a large extent," Tancredo said.
He said the Save America campaign is needed to halt a the immigration bill which would "destroy our great nation" and open the floodgates to even more illegal immigration.
Targeting fellow Republicans is nothing new for Tancredo. Team America, a political action committee he founded, aggressively targeted Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, in last year's GOP primary. Cannon eventually won re-election.
The committee also tried to influence races in California, Arizona and elsewhere. Cannon spokesman Fred Piccolo said Tancredo's efforts didn't work in 2006.
"If his poll numbers are any indication, then he's not catching fire with the Republican base on an issue that's front and center," Piccolo said.
Tancredo has been polling below the margin of error in polls around the country.
This week, the Senate is debating a bipartisan bill that could grant legal status to millions of people who are in the country illegally. If approved, it then would go to the House of Representatives, where opponents of the White House-backed plan hope to make a last stand.
Backers, including Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., say the legislation is a realistic way of dealing with the more than 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the country. The legislation also includes border security and enforcement provisions.
Fighting illegal immigration and the White House-backed legislation has been the centerpiece of Tancredo's uphill presidential campaign. He has focused heavily on the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire in hopes of gaining momentum to win in later primaries.
"We haven't changed any plans we already have for Iowa and New Hampshire," said spokesman Alan Moore. "The whole focus of him traveling is to stop this bill. He's going to go wherever he's needed to make the best case to kill this."
