Free Republic

'snip'.....Tancredo created a buzz of his own. He got enough standing ovations from hard-core conservative Iowa voters that it should worry any top-tier presidential hopefuls who thought they could get through 2008 without touching the immigration hot-button.Tancredo has visited New Hampshire and now Iowa, seeing how his hard line against illegal immigration plays in the two early presedential primary states. He's testing the waters for a possible presedential run of his own, but his real goal is to turn his pet issue into something akin to abortion in past campaigns - a big deal that nobody is allowed to ignore.Even...

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Rep. Tom Tancredo started barnstorming through eastern Iowa on Thursday, talking immigration to religious conservatives and stepping up his flirtation with the 2008 presidential race.The Littleton Republican arrived in Moline, Ill., then made the short drive across the Mississippi River into Davenport.Iowa is home to the first presedential caucuses in 2008, and Tancredo wants the big-name contenders to take up his crusade to stop illegal immigration."If you don't approach this thing as if you are completely serious, you can't accomplish any goal," he said.