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Posted: October 3, 2007 6:24 PM
Tancredo Follows Edwards Towards Public Financing
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As expected, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has joined some of his fellow presidential contenders — most notably former Sen. John Edwards — in filing for federal matching funds.

The Tancredo campaign made a $1.606 million submission for matching funds on Monday. In a campaign news release, national chairwoman Bay Buchanan said it would provide the necessary money to keep the campaign strong. “We are on track to be a force in the upcoming primary season,” Buchanan said in the statement.

On Wednesday, Tancredo’s campaign announced plans for a Friday news conference at the Iowa State Capitol steps to condemn a district court judge’s August ruling against Iowa’s ban on gay marriage. A Republican rival, former Sen. Fred Thompson, has been in Iowa discussing his own plan for gay marriage that would bar a judge in one state from recognizing another state’s court ruling allowing gay marriage — and the response in the lead-off caucus state has been mixed, according to the Des Moines Register.

Not one to let a week pass without drawing attention to immigration issues, Tancredo also criticized New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He testified Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the State Assembly Republican Conference in New York.

“One would think that after 9/11 our leaders would work for the security of America, not against it. Governor Spitzer is virtually guaranteeing that future terrorists and illegal aliens in need of documents will get them in New York,” Tancredo said, according a statement released by his campaign.

While Tancredo said the plan “exposes all Americans,” Spitzer has justified the proposal by saying it actually increases public safety and reduces the number of uninsured drivers on the road.

This past week, Tancredo appeared at a Right to Life meeting in New Hampshire to speak out on his anti-abortion beliefs. Last Thursday, Tancredo participated in the PBS All-American Forum, which focused on minority issues.

Although Tancredo said focusing heavily on race politics is “destructive” for America, he echoed some of his comments from an NAACP forum earlier this year — at which he was the sole Republican participant. He said the flow of illegal immigrants into America as a cheap source of labor decreases economic opportunity for minority and low-income Americans.