Tancredo Nixes 3rd-Party Candidacy

Tancredo has no plan to run as anything but a Republican:

"From the beginning, we've had no intention to run as a third-party candidate, ever, and we'll never consider that because he's a Republican, period," said T.Q. Houlton, spokesman for the newly formed Tancredo for a Secure America Exploratory Committee.

The potential for a repeat of 1992 when Republicans were split by the candidacy of Ross Perot, or 2000 when Ralph Nader siphoned off votes from Al Gore, is always a distinct possibility. Tancredo realizes that his underdog status in the Republican Party would give his issue more visibility than running as an ignored 3rd-party candidate. Tancredo still believes that a core group of Republicans in the House still feel the same way about immigration, and severing ties and campaigning in 3rd-party guise would not help the cause in any significant way.