Sure, November 2008 is nearly two years away, but it’s
apparently never too early to declare one’s intention to run for president, and thus it’s never too early to get to know the people who might be the next leader of the free world. This month we’ll be taking a brief look at them.

Tom Tancredo

Party: Republican

Age: 62

Status: Has Exploratory Committee

www.teamtancredo.com

Congressman Tom Tancredo, former chair of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, has led the fight to deport every undocumented worker in America. He also proposes calling a halt to all immigration— legal and otherwise. He is worried that President Bush plans to merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico into one North American state.

Tancredo was born in Denver, Colorado, the grandson of Italian immigrants. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Political Science, and has said that his interest in politics began the eighth grade, when he played Fidel Castro in a class assignment. Tancredo taught history for several years at Drake Junior High School in Denver, where he met his wife Jackie. He soon became vocal in a campaign to end bilingual education in the state, and, in 1981, Ronald Reagan appointed him as the regional representative for the Department of Education in Denver. Tancredo remained in this post in until he ran for Congress in 1998.

Although Tancredo ran as a staunch proponent of term limits and promised to serve only three terms, he was re-elected for the fourth time in 2006. During his time in office he has stepped forward as a conservative leader in the immigration debate, urging the U.S. to reject “the siren song of multiculturalism.” In one well publicized maneuver, Tancredo called on the INS to deport the family of an undocumented high school honor student who had been profiled in the Denver Post for his perfect grades.

Tancredo has also said that Miami “has become a Third World country, ” and has described Islam as “a civilization bent on destroying ours.” He has also called for dismantling the Congressional Black Caucus on the grounds that it is restricted only to black people and is therefore exclusionary. When Pope Benedict XVI sparked riots by condemning Islam as “evil,” Tancredo urged him not to apologize. In a radio interview in 2006, Tancredo proposed that America respond to any future terrorist attack by bombing Mecca and other holy sites. Tancredo was named one of the 10 worst congressman by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2006.

Here he is calling Mexico a “foe,” while defending the rights of bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman.

Posted by Eli’s Intern: Sage Van Wing

Previously: John Edwards, John McCain, Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, Sam Brownback, Christopher J. Dodd, Newt Gingrich, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Huckabee, Tom Vilsack, Joe Biden, Duncan Hunter, Tommy Thompson, Ron Paul, and James Gilmore III.