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Tancredo: Campaign is David vs. Goliath
Colorado Republican reminds people who won biblical battle

It was the difference between croissants and meatballs.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani served 400 New Hampshire activists a full breakfast spread Saturday before he gave the keynote address at the state Republican Party's annual meeting. He was greeted with whoops and hollers, welcomed as a hero.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, meanwhile, offered a buffet at his afternoon reception. It sat for hours as state activists stayed holed-up at the state party meeting. His staff waited for the meeting to end so they could woo activists.

Tancredo knows he's among the long-shot contenders for the GOP presidential nomination.

"In my experience, that's not what it's going to take to win this primary or to do really well. Gourmet breakfasts, huge tents set up in Iowa, air conditioned with french doors - those kinds of things will get people to attend. They won't necessarily get you votes," Tancredo said while waiting. "Yeah, I'm an underdog, but it's been the case almost every single time I've run."

In Colorado, Tancredo's anti-immigration argument is the bread-and-butter of the Republican's identity. Here in New Hampshire, though, he's finding trouble selling it. In a state that includes metric measurements on its highway signs to accommodate visiting Canadians, illegal immigration isn't an issue that elicits fear or mobilizes voters.

"It's a symbolic issue for Granite Staters," said Ernesto Sagas, an assistant professor of political science at the Southern New Hampshire University. "If there's any appeal, it'll be based on symbolism and not facts."

The state is 94 percent white, according to the most recent Census data. Only 4 percent of the population was born in another country.

Sagas said politicians employed immigration as a fear tactic last year and voters have moved past it.

"Gay marriage was a big thing back in 2004, and then it was immigration," Sagas said. "It's like a one-trick pony; unless something dramatic happens like we're invaded by Mexico, it's not going to get a lot traction. The big thing is going to be Iraq."

Tancredo, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, vaulted himself to national prominence during last summer's contentious debates on immigration reform. He opposes guest worker programs and immigration proposals by President Bush, saying they would facilitate more foreigners coming to the United States illegally. And this week, he again earned headlines when he called for the dismantling of the Congressional Black Caucus. All 43 members of the caucus are black.

"It's OK - saying that with a question mark - to have a black caucus to which membership is restricted to black people? This is not the message we should be sending," he said. "We are being separated by the cult of multiculturalism."

It's unclear, though, how well that presentation will sell.

"Our border is Canadian. It's French Canadian. What you find is it's been a friendly relationship, so it's not to the same extent as in the Southwest and the southwestern part of the United States," said Mike Dupre, a political sociologist at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.

Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said immigration reform isn't a top-tier priority for voters, but could mobilize a segment of Republicans if the issue were framed as a legal matter.

"People get more upset about these people breaking the law," Smith said.

Gerald Beloin, a first-generation immigrant whose father is French-Canadian, said the issue is about following the rules, not xenophobia.

"My father did it the right way. He didn't hop the border. Tom Tancredo wants to keep those people out, not my father," said Beloin, of New Boston, N.H.

That was the case in a series of small New Hampshire towns in 2005, when local police rounded up illegal immigrants on trespassing charges. Tancredo visited those towns and praised the police officers for their gutsy moves.

"You could see it was resonating with a certain part of the Republican electorate," Smith said.

The issue's relatively low polling numbers won't be the biggest problem.

"He's got a bigger problem of being in a crowded field as an unknown," Smith said. "There's just so much political oxygen."

Tancredo remained upbeat.

"Yes, it's David and Goliath. There's no two ways about it," he said. "But you know what? David won."