Tancredo Time

    Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) formed a committee to begin raising money for what he admitted would be an "arduous and uphill battle" for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

    Tancredo has thrown himself into the polarizing immigration debate with a single-mindedness that unnerves even many conservatives.

    Yet it is precisely Tancredo's focus on immigration that makes him a hero to border-conscious voters who don't see any other major politician willing to address their concerns. These voters have become increasingly alienated from the Republican Party and have been searching for creative ways to convey their disappointment with the GOP leadership.

    With Tancredo getting closer to throwing his hat into the ring, these activists are no doubt pleased to finally have someone to vote for. While other prospective candidates were sitting on the fence, he was sponsoring legislation to build one along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    But immigration restrictionists should perhaps temper their enthusiasm. Paradoxically, a poorly executed presidential campaign could set back their movement.

    By running what will end up being a single-issue immigration campaign (whether he wants it to be one or not), Tancredo risks relieving the frontrunners -- who already don't seem too concerned about what restrictionists think of them -- of any need to appeal to his constituency. And if he does poorly, Tancredo will become Exhibit A in his opponents' case that immigration enforcement isn't an election winner.

    By launching a quixotic presidential campaign instead of running for re-election or making a more promising bid for Colorado's open Senate seat, Tancredo may leave his pro-enforcement contingent in the House without a well known public voice. Other leaders can surely be found -- Congressman James Sensenbrenner also played a crucial part -- but not all of them would back the full range of the caucus's immigration-policy prescriptions.

    America needs to have a constructive debate about immigration. Maybe by running for president Tancredo can facilitate this debate. But if recent single-issue immigration candidacies are any guide, his campaign should be greeted as skeptically as any Democratic-sponsored guest worker program.