Tancredo for President

The Denver Post reports that longtime Taiwan supporter Rep. Tom Tancredo will announce a Presidential Run. Tancredo has no hope of getting the bid, he merely wants to shape the conversation.....

The Littleton congressman, who has had an exploratory committee, will tell radio host Jan Mickelson in Des Moines that he is formally joining the race for the Republican nomination, two sources close to the congressman said.

Like other presidential candidates using alternative forums to break the news that they are seeking the Oval Office, Tancredo, the anti-illegal immigration stalwart, is choosing the medium that has given him a home for almost a decade.

"We're looking at a day of announcements on talk radio," a source close to the campaign said. "That's where the conservative movement has made its mark. That's where our people get their news."

Tancredo decided to join the race after raising more than $1 million two months sooner than the goal he had set, one of the sources close to Tancredo said. Though that is a tiny amount of money compared to what other candidates are raising, Tancredo intends to spend that and at least $1 million in matching funds in just Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tancredo's goal is to force top-tier Republican candidates Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to talk about immigration, the source close to Tancredo said. In particular, Tancredo will target McCain, co-sponsor of the immigration legislation that passed the Senate last year before dying when House Republican leaders refused to merge it with House legislation.

[Taiwan]