Tancredo Endorses Romney, Says Huckabee Weak On Immigration

Tom Tancredo bowed out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday and threw his support behind Mitt Romney, saying the former Massachusetts governor provides the best hope for securing the nation’s borders and curbing the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.

Tancredo, who has lagged in public opinion polls, has been the most consistent critic of immigration policy in America and has built a small but enthusiastic base of supporters who consider illegal immigration to be the most serious problem facing the country. Tancredo said that he’s dropping out with less than two weeks until the Iowa caucus with the hopes that he can sway support for Romney and defeat other candidates who he considers to be less consistent on the issue.

“The reality is this, at this point in time, he is the best hope for our cause and it is the cause that motivates me,” Tancredo said. “The presidential campaign has come down to less than a handful of viable candidates. Unfortunately several of them have abysmal records on immigration and can’t be trusted to do what is needed to preserve this country if they’re elected. My fear is that if I were to stay in this race my votes could be the factor in handing victory to a pro-amnesty politician. Friends, we have done too much, come too far and the stakes are too high to play that hand. And so I am ending my presidential campaign.”

During a question and answer session with the media, Tancredo said he’s concerned about the level of support Mike Huckabee is receiving in polls and that his record on immigration while governor of Arkansas led him to endorse Romney.

Tancredo and Romney met in private on Thursday morning for a frank discussion on the issue. Tancredo said the two men don’t agree on every aspect of the immigration debate, but that he feels confidant that Romney will keep his promise to combat the flow of illegal aliens into the country.

Following the announcement, the Romney campaign issued a statement that stopped short of embracing the Tancredo endorsement.

“Congressman Tancredo ran a spirited campaign focused on issues that are important to many Americans. I thank him for his support. While we don’t agree on every issue, we agree on the need to keep America strong. I look forward to working with him and other Republicans to achieve that end,” Romney’s statement said.

Tancredo said none of the other Republican candidates are in total agreement with him on immigration policy and that Romney opposes a bill introduced by Tancredo in congress that would create a so-called “Time-Out” period. The law would require the U.S. to temporarily stop legal immigration except in extreme cases, saying the time-out would allow the government to change what he considers a dysfunctional policy.

On Monday, Rep. Steve King, who represents western Iowa in congress, threw his support behind Fred Thompson, saying the former Tennessee senator has the “fire in the belly” to stand up for issues important to social conservatives. King also expressed concern about Huckabee’s record on immigration in the past.

Prior to his announcement early in 2007, Tancredo played the role of the reluctant candidate, telling organizers of a draft movements that he’d only run for president if no one in the race extensively addressed the issue of immigration and stay committed to conservative principles.

Since that time, immigration has been a hot issue in the state and each of the remaining campaigns have tried to claim some ownership in the issue. King said during an interview on Monday that Tancredo deserves all the credit for making immigration a key issue in the Iowa race. “No matter what happens in the caucuses, in my mind Tom Tancredo has won his fight and I admire him for it,” King said.

On Thursday, King issued a statement again praising Tancredo:

“The measure of his success is in the platforms of every Republican candidate and even in that of the Democrats. No candidate has had so profound an effect on any public policy of America,” King said. “Every Republican has taken the no amnesty pledge and adopted a tough-on-illegal-immigration stance. Tom Tancredo has been so successful that much his political capital has been co-opted by his opponents. “

Tancredo campaigned in Iowa for the first time on April 14 at a fundraiser in Des Moines. In all, he made more than 90 appearances in the state.

During a debate in New Hampshire this spring, he began carving out a niche for himself in the area of immigration, noting that:

“We’re talking about something that goes to the very heart of this nation: whether or not we will actually survive as a nation,” Tancredo said. “What we’re doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to actually hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of balkanized pieces.”

Tancredo finished a surprising fourth during the Iowa Straw Poll after utilizing a unique strategy to enlist supporters to bring friends to the influential event. He offered a trip to Washington, D.C. and a tour of the capitol to anybody who brought 25 Tancredo supporters to the straw poll.

But is campaign never took off after that and an somewhat aggressive television campaign in the state had little impact on his Iowa poll numbers. In November, the campaign released a controversial commercial called “Tough on Terror” which focused on a hypothetical terrorist attack that occurs in a shopping mall.

The ad blames lax border security for the attack and flashes images of an injured child and a wrecked train. The commercial ends with Tancredo stating: “I approve this message because someone needs to say it,” a voiceover states, “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.”