The final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses was held last Wednesday. Tomorrow in Des Moines, Tom Tancredo is expected to drop out of the race.

The timing is no coincidene. Tancredo, a Colorado Congressman, used his status as a presidential candidate to secure invitations to every televised debate this year (there were about 47, I think) and to all sorts of high-profile G.O.P. events. But he raised little money and struggled to break the two percent barrier in most polls. With no debates left, the only thing Tancredo had to look forward to was a humiliating showing in Iowa in two weeks. By dropping out now, he avoids that.

The shame is how much time and space he took up, even though it was clear months ago that he wasn’t going to stir any meaningful interest in his bid. But every debate, he made it miserable for any viewer interested in watching some kind of dialogue between the legitimate candidates.

Some will credit Tancredo with making illegal immigration the hot issue it is on the Republican side. And it’s true that he pushed it earlier and more forcefully than many in his party, but he stopped being the primary – or even a prominent – force behind it even before he launched his candidacy. At his best, Tancredo was reduced to listening to the other candidates on the debate stage and then commenting that “they sound like me.”

Tancredo’s not the only one who has needlessly wasted viewers’ time in debates. Duncan Hunter, who has yet to drop out, belongs on that list, as does Alan Keyes.  read more »

With 2008 not looking so good for the party nominee, it’s worth asking which of the many Republican candidates might live to run again in 2012.  read more »

At the tail end of this afternoon’s Republican presidential debate, CNBC’s Maria “The Money Honey” Bartiromo asked Fred Thompson how his first appearance on-stage with the rest of the G.O.P. field had gone.

“I’ve enjoyed watching these fellas,” he finally managed, after stumbling for something sufficiently light-hearted to sat, “But I gotta admit: it was starting to get a little boring without me.”

Actually, Fred, it was much, much worse with you.  read more »

Republican Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo was a bit of an unwelcome guest at a hearing here organized by members of his own party.

Earlier this week, Assembly Republicans held a hearing on Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license plan, which they say rewards illegal immigrants with the chance to obtain a state driver‘s license. Tancredo has been running a presidential campaign based on hostility to illegal immigration.

According to a story in El Diario, Tancredo was invited by Assemblyman Greg Ball, but Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco quickly sought to distance himself from the candidate's appearance. Tedisco's office put out a statement--in Spanish--saying that he supports legal immigration and that his ideas are different from Tancredo's.

Will he be making similar clarifications for the English-language press?

UPDATE: A reader called to remind me that meeting was, technically, a "public hearing" and not an official Assembly hearing since only Committee Chairman (all of whom are Democrats) can hold hearings. 

Thank God for the Ames Republican Presidential Straw Poll.

It’s probably not the healthiest expression of democracy – the right to vote costs 25 bucks, with campaigns typically gobbling up chunks of tickets and handing them out to participants who might not be anywhere near Iowa come next January’s caucuses – but it sure gets the job done. After the last competitive straw poll, in the summer of 1999, three candidates were forced from the race, reducing an unruly G.O.P. field to a more manageable size.  read more »

Since Rudy Giuliani gave his especially malleable answer to a question about whether Roe v Wade should be overturned during the Republican debate, conservatives have been increasingly scrutinizing the former mayor's abortion position. Now one of the candidate's in the Republican primary has explicitly said Giuliani's stance should prevent him from winning the nomination.

The campaign of Tom Tancredo, one of the staunch conservative presidential candidates running on the periphery of the Republican field, just released the following statement.

A number of inquiries have been received regarding Congressman Tancredo’s comment on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos in response to the following question:

Can a pro-choice candidate like Mayor Giuliani win the nomination?

The Congressman responded “Yes”.

The question that was not asked was: “Should a pro-choice candidate like Mayor Giuliani win the nomination?

The answer to that question is, “Emphatically no; if a Republican President of the United States won’t vigorously fight to protect the life of the unborn, how long before the trend toward the culture of death becomes irreversible?”

The statement follows Giuliani's appearance on the talk show host Laura Ingraham, where she grilled Giuliani on his abortion stance and formerly active support for Planned Parenthood.  read more »