Tancredo announces for Colorado Governor

The Denver Post continues its efforts to ridicule the gubernatorial candidacy of Tom Tancredo. Tom announced his candidacy officially Thursday. The headline, accompanied by a closeup photo of Tancredo's hat, was His hat's in the ring. You see, Tancredo wore a U.S. Border Patrol hat.

The Post's second page columnist continued his sarcastic belittlement of Tancredo. Instead of just Xeroxing copies of his previous columns, which have been relentlessly ridiculing Tancredo, the columnist found some new points of ridicule: Tancredo's clothing! Standing outside in 90 degree weather to announce his candidacy, Tancredo wore a blue shirt (not tucked in) and khakis, along with "leather driving moccasins" on his feet. The columnist, Mike Litwin, described the shirt as "one of those Florida/Cuban shirts that don't tuck in." Littwin described Tancredo as looking like "he was headed for the 5 o'clock special at the Country Buffet." The Country Buffet is a local restaurant chain very popular with middle class people of all ethnic groups, the very people who are going to vote for Tancredo this fall.

I have served as a delegate to the Jefferson County and Colorado Republican conventions, and I have seen the love the people have for Tancredo. No one is greeted more warmly than he at those gatherings.

The Post sent their best reporter, Karen Crummy, to cover the announcement. She correctly notes right away in the first two paragraphs that Tancredo seemed to have an agenda that was exactly the same as the GOP agenda, even though he is running as the candidate of the American Conservative Party. That is because Tancredo helped write the platform of GOP candidate Scott McCinnis, who is still running, but who has been damaged by revelations that he is a plagiarist. "Opposition to new taxes, support for education reform, and a business-friendly atmosphere, along with his signature issue of stopping illegal immigration" are what Tancredo stands for, writes Crummy.

Littwin, though, wonders if Tancredo is really serious about staying in the race, or if he is just trying to get the two GOP candidates to drop out and be replaced by a candidate who has a better chance of winning.