Media Criticism

Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado was running for president. No, seriously, he was running for the Republican nomination for the past few months. The man who wants to completely shut down American borders and hinged his entire career on immigration issues was trying to win the nomination for the Republican Party in a year when Democrats seem to have an edge. I say he “was� because Tom Tancredo dropped out of the race today to avoid the embarrassment of finishing behind Alan Keyes in the Iowa caucuses.

In the same way that fellow conservative Sam Brownback left the race a few months back, Tom Tancredo went out quietly. You may not have known about Tancredo’s exit if you weren’t watching CNN at the right time. Tancredo immediately endorsed Mitt Romney for the nomination which was a sign that Romney’s rhetoric on an American First immigration policy was working on one sucker. Unlike Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo had a tangible effect on the Republicans.

The YouTube debate and forums featuring Tom Tancredo focused in part on stemming the tide of illegal immigration. Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have been positioning themselves on the right along with Tancredo during the fall to capture the true-blue conservative vote. Tancredo’s ridiculous campaign commercial featuring a hooded terrorist entering a building may have been questionable in its content but brought out discussion of terrorism as an issue of immigration. Candidates will continue to “out-Tancredo� Tancredo through the primary season to appeal to the primary constituency.

Will Tancredo’s endorsement mean anything for Romney? I think endorsements in general are questionable in their influence. John McCain has been endorsed by the Des Moines Register and Joe Lieberman with his polling numbers behind Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani. Tom Tancredo is not a heavy hitter and his influence in Colorado politics probably won’t help the Republican nominee beyond his district. Tom Tancredo’s candidacy will become a deep footnote in this historic election left for political nerds and historians to analyze in the recesses of a university library.