Tom Tancredo is a former Republican Congressman from Colorado, as well as a former Republican Presidential candidate. His stance as an immigration hawk has garnered press, votes, and money in each of his runs for office. Now Tancredo is running for Governor of Colorado as the nominee of the Constitution Party. The Tancredo campaign today released a list of endorsements from prominent Republican office holders and former office holders.
More than 20 elected and formerly elected Republicans have abandoned their party’s gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes to throw their support behind third-party candidate Tom Tancredo.
Citing concerns over Maes credibility, as well as his ability to wage a winning campaign, defectors said Tancredo was the only candidate armed with the necessary conservative credentials and fund-raising prowess to beat Democrat John Hickenlooper.
“The narrative has been written about Dan Maes and the weakness of his campaign. He can’t overcome it and beat Hickenlooper,” said Republican state Sen. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch. “We’ve worked very hard in the conservative trenches to have an opportunity like this … and Tom Tancredo is the only strong conservative in the race who can raise money and put on a credible campaign.”
The list of endorsements is as follows:
U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa
Former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez of Colorado
State Sen. Ted Harvey
State Sen. Greg Brophy
State Sen./Former Minority Leader Josh Penry
Former State Sen. Hugh Fowler
Former state Sen. Cliff Dodge
Former State Sen. Steve Durham
Former State Sen. Maynard Yost
State Rep. Spencer Swalm
State Rep. Marsha Looper
State Rep. Steve King
Former state Rep. Matt Knoedler
Former state Rep. John McElderry
Former state Rep. Frank DeFilippo
Former state Representative Rob Witwer
Former state Rep. Pam Rhodes
Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty
Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland
Erie Mayor Joe Wilson
Hopefully he’s becoming more Constitutionalist.
Tancredo is no Ron Paul but he was better than most Republicans on foreign policy in the last few years.
In Congress, Tancredo voted against the Iraq surge and has been hesitant to support the surge in Afghanistan. Perhaps his foreign policy views will evolve along with his views on legalizing marijuana.
I’m sure he’s no Alan Keyes either.
Oh yes Tancredo would butt heads with the CP on foreign policy, unless his opinion has changed pretty dramatically recently. But, I have a feeling that he would emphasize areas of agreement, rather than taking the Keyes-lecture-all-c0mers-method.
George,
The only polls that showed Bennet ahead of Buck are the CNN poll (which is of all registered voters) and the PPP poll (which is of registered voters and was taken the day before a nasty primary). Rasmussen, SurveyUSA, and Mason-Dixon all surveyed likely voters, and all have shown Buck ahead of Bennet.
I hope your right Trent. If Tancredo does have a chance, I hope your right.
And unlike Keyes, Tancredo probably wouldn’t butt heads with the CP on foreign policy.
Bennett and Buck are tied in polling especially allowing for known House effects. Bennett has some difficulties with progressive Democrats being disaffected with White House intervention in the primary; a good libertarian candidate (there is one) may to some extent be able to exploit this feature.
Erik G.,
I see your point, but I think it’s a fairly well known phenomenon that when two challengers split a “side” of the vote (liberal or conservative), that the combined numbers also plummet because that side’s voters become less likely to vote.
Ken Buck isn’t going to be beat–Democrats will be wasting their money. All Tancredo needs to do is continue raising money at a pace better than Maes, keep campaigning his pants off, and let Maes stick his foot in his mouth. In ads, he ought to identify himself with the tea party pretty heavily.
Trent @ 4:
I’m not so sure this quote is true:
“Hickenlooper is only winning because there are two legitimate conservative contenders.”
Of all the recent polling (i.e. August and September) I’ve seen, only conservative-biased Rasmussen has a combined Tancredo/Maes total that tops Hickenlooper.
Also, though nationally conservatives are expected to turn out in high numbers, in Colorado it would appear the progressive/Democratic vote is going to turn out pretty big as well to try and defeat Ken Buck.
To me, it appears that Buck being on the ballot will likely cost Maes and Tancredo any chance of winning.
I am pretty sure he would allow mosques in Colorado and even if he was against mosques in Colorado he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Here is the Mecca thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ceyrBw50Y
Does anyone have the original audio?
How about on mosques in Colorado?
I like Tom Tancredo and hope he becomes governor but he would not make a good president. As governor he will not control of the military but as president he might try to do something insane like bomb Mecca. On foreign policy this guy is as bad as Alan Keyes.
Tancredo also outraised Maes about 4:1, pulling in 200k to Maes’ 50k.
Cody, if Maes’ support continues to dissapear, Tancredo could end up scoring 1st. Hickenlooper is only winning because there are two legitimate conservative contenders. If Tancredo can put Maes down for the count by continuing to make him look illegitimate, then he might swing the entire Republican base and win it.
At any rate, I think Tancredo is now the frontrunner for the CP Presidential nomination in 2012.
The 2006 Republican gov nominee endorsed him. Interesting.
Tancredo may get second place in this race.
By Robert Dougherty, Associated Content
In its Aug. 10 primary, Colorado set up one of the most intriguing U.S. Senate match-ups in the country, which could be a bellwether race for the national midterms.
Sen. Michael Bennet must face the curse of Obama-backed incumbents — despite running his first election campaign — against Tea Party-backed Republican Ken Buck, who had suddenly risen to the nomination over the early GOP favorite, former state Lt. Gov. Jane Norton ………”