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Tancredo drops out, endorses Romney

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By Dan Gearino | Friday, December 21, 2007 12:07 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES — U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo declared victory and defeat Thursday when he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Mitt Romney.

Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, said his campaign succeeded because it raised awareness of his top issue — the need to fight illegal immigration. But his campaign failed to gain much support in the polls, in Iowa or anywhere else.

“It is apparent to me, I cannot win this race,” Tancredo said at a Des Moines news conference.

His announcement was made on his 62nd birthday.

Tancredo said he met with Romney earlier in the day and came away confident that the former Massachusetts governor is the Republican candidate most likely to get tough on illegal immigrants.

“At this point, he is the best hope for our cause,” Tancredo said.

His confidence is a departure from earlier in the campaign when he said he doubted Romney’s sincerity about combating illegal immigration.

Tancredo said two other candidates — U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — have poor records on immigration and need to be stopped.

Huckabee is at the top of most Iowa polls, a fact that Tancredo said played a role in his decision to drop out and support Romney.

Tancredo was in many ways a single-issue candidate. Almost all of his advertising and a large share of his public comments have been about illegal immigration. His campaign produced provocative ads that tied illegal immigrants to terrorism, the drug trade and gang activity.

His ads had this tag line: “This is Tom Tancredo and I approved this ad because someone has to say it.”

Bill Salier of Nora Springs, Iowa chairman of Tancredo’s campaign, said he will endorse a candidate, but he wasn’t ready to make an announcement.

“I will make it all very clear either tomorrow or after Christmas,” Salier said.