Time to add another incumbent to the big board of House retirements. This edition: immigration crusader Tom Tancredo:
Rep. Tom Tancredo plans to leave the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of 2008, whether his longshot presidential bid is successful or not, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
"It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue about which I care greatly (immigration)," Tancredo, 61, told the newspaper Sunday night.
This is an especially tough district for Democrats: with a PVI of R+10, it voted for Bush over Kerry by a 60-39 margin in 2004. Still, stranger things have happened. In 2006, the race for Colorado's 5th district, a highly conservative area with a PVI of R+15.7 (66/33 Bush/Kerry) became a contentious race when the Club For Growth dragged unpopular state Rep. Doug Lamborn across the finish line to win a nasty Republican primary. While that race ultimately wasn't that close (Lamborn won with 59%), Democrat Jay Fawcett performed eight points higher than Kerry's level.
In short: in order to have an outside chance here, Democrats should be hoping that the GOP nominates an especially ugly fundy wingnut here after a brutal primary. On second thought, I don't see how you can get much more wingnutty than Tancredo, so maybe all this is moot...
