Tancredo was basically a single issue candidate, trying to further the immigration issue. He was never running with the intention of winning. In this regard, he was incredibly successful. Iowans recently rated Illegal Immigration as their top issue, which is why you see Giuliania and Huckabee releasing very strong positions to counter their weaker pasts. I think RP started out this way as well. But when he found out how many people wanted a new age of fiscal conservatism and Constitutional values, then the goals changed. It says something about the Republican Party when the guy polling between 5~9% is the one with a traditional Republican platform, and the front runners are either so-cons, or neo-cons.
As much as I hate Fred Thompson, he's probably the other person closest to a traditional conservative platform, and he too sits at the bottom of the polls. Now the top two in Iowa are essentially RINOs, which is kind of funny.
Why anyone rates immigration at the top of any list is beyond me.. There are more important things on my mind and others IMO.. Environment Energy Homeland Security War on Terror Taxes Health care Immigration ranks up there with Abortion and Gay Marriage in my book.. They are just not the most important issues of the day.. I think the media had made Immigration an issue. I really do not think that Huckabee and Guiliani's stances on immigration are the main source of their polling number gains. I think things like security at home and abroad, ie the war, energy dependance, etc., are playing a larger roll in their recent gains.
IIRC, the top of the Iowan issues list went something like this (from memory) Immigration Iraq War (50% of Iowa GOP want out) Taxes Terrorism
I still do not understand what makes immigration such a huge issue over things like Energy Dependance, and Health Care... Strange..
Yep. Short of any moderates who decided to jump Democrat this cycle, we should pick up nearly every anti-war GOP vote. Just a matter of how many votes that is, and how dedicated they are to the message.
Again, it all comes down to telephone and scientific polls, which I don't trust absolutely. A lot of things are up in the air right now, until they actually caucus in Iowa and vote in NH, the picture is muddy. One thing I have learned, getting this interested in the process, is that very few people vote in the primaries, and "turning out the vote" can be the difference between 1st and 5th, regardless of how people poll. On the night of, very few people actual get out and participate. I mean the pop. of Iowa is almost 3 million, and 30,000 votes in the GOP primary may be enough to win. So every single voter counts.
Pretty good analysis of the dropout and endorsement here. http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2007/12/tancredo_goes_out_with_a_wimp.html
The only ones I heard of before they ran are Paul and McGuiliani You guys are talking about something that doesn't matter, people don't decide who will be the President anymore. Bush lost both times he ran, so what - he is one of the elites
If Romney was not personally wealthy, he would already be out of the race. He's simply not that strong of a candidate. Some of the stunts he has pulled included busing supporters into the first Iowa Straw Poll, and recently at a straw poll in Florida, his supporters showed up with multiple tickets (20+ each) to vote for him. This kind of campaigning makes him a really unsavory candidate in my mind. Anyone willing to cheat, manipulate and buy their way into the White House, is not the solution to our leadership problems.
Not only appearance, but past stances on issues. I don't know why, he just comes off not conservative to me.
I agree with Mia on this. I probably don't agree with all the solutions but I agree these are dramatically more important issues. I'm not sure its the media that made immigration an issue...other than the most rabble rousing aspects of it. The immigration issue is out of whack. Microsoft moved an office and lab from the US to Canada so it could more easily bring in talented productive people from around the world to go to work. In fact those are the very immigrants the US should be pursuing. They create a dynamic economy. Now they are moving to Canada because the US immigration situation is so twisted. When one of the Republican debates began to focus on Giulani and Romney arguing over illegal immigrants working at his house...then the debates had dropped to an incredibly stupid and unproductive level and all Americans were losing in the process. So long Tancredo. I for one won't miss you in the race for the presidency.