Posted on 11/06/2002 1:57:12 AM PST by Pat Bateman
The margin matters in Tancredo victory
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
November 6, 2002
Rep. Tom Tancredo interpreted his easy victory as vindication of his fiery anti-immigration rhetoric and as a license for all lawmakers to speak their minds.
Tancredo was cruising to a third term in the 6th Congressional District despite months of controversy over his call for troops on the U.S. borders and a crackdown on illegal immigrants elsewhere.
"It tells me that the issues that I tried to advance are issues that should be advanced and that nobody should be afraid of," said Tancredo, who has become a polarizing figure in the national immigration debate.
Even Tancredo worried about a backlash, but there were no signs of it in early returns, which showed him leading Democrat Lance Wright by a more than 2-to-1 ratio, and Libertarian Adam Katz trailing.
Even some Republicans had criticized Tancredo, who clashed with the White House over immigration and also drew fire after asking federal officials to investigate the family of an illegal immigrant featured in a newspaper article.
"The party should look at this and say, 'If you stand for something and stand for principles . . . you don't have to be afraid,' " Tancredo said. "If I won by 50 percent and one vote, I'd be speaking my mind. I'm hoping my colleagues in Congress will look at this and see you can take chances and they will not punish you."
Tancredo's south suburban district was considered such safe Republican territory that pundits predicted he would have to get at least 60 percent of the vote or else people would wonder if he would be vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2004.
Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 2-to-1 in the district, holding a roughly 99,000 voter registration advantage in 2002, compared with 43,000 in 2000.
Two years ago, Tancredo faced a heavily financed challenge from Democrat Ken Toltz but still won with 54 percent of the vote.
Even Wright conceded that district voters did not seem too upset with Tancredo, despite the recent barrage of negative headlines.
"Some folks felt his approach maybe was too aggressive, more polarizing than it needed to be, but they weren't too concerned about it," said Wright, who called for a more "humane" approach to immigration issues.
Tancredo joked that journalists were "part of the campaign," since their negative stories didn't hurt his re-election chances. Besides immigration, Tancredo came under fire for announcing that he was abandoning his long-standing term limits pledge.
State Treasurer Mike Coffman predicted that some Republicans will challenge Tancredo in 2004 over "credibility issues."
Tancredo said his showing on Tuesday should send would-be challengers a message: "It tells them, 'You better think twice.' "
Rep. Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus, and several Members of the Caucus called on the President to immediately deploy troops along the U.S. border and unveiled a major border protection initiative during a press conference on Capitol Hill |
Notice how the media can't bring itself to say 'Tancredo Wins In A Landslide!'?
Could that promise have back-fired on the panderer?
In A Landslide!!!!!
How's that!!! :)
Bush better govern as an anti-illegal immigration, conservative, because Tancredo and the voters will be watching.
Jeb Bush squeaked by to victory, while Tom Tancredo, the most vocal opponent of illegal immigration in congress, 'Won In A Landslide'!
You know that kills the Democrats, Fox, mecHa, La Raza and it better give Bush and other Republicans pause to think before they take any action to do anything, but seal our borders and enforce the anti-illegal immigration laws that are already on the books.
Tancredo and the voters will be watching.
Reminds me of California, they are hardly discussing Davis winning, as he out spent Simon by many, many millions, yet he just barely won the election.
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