On 2008 and Baseball: Chasing the GOP Pennant

Colorado Rep. Tancredo pegs congressional seat to World Series.

ByABC News
October 10, 2007, 4:53 PM

Oct. 10, 2007 — -- Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo's bid for the Republican presidential nomination is, to say the least, swinging for the fences. A wild card candidate in the Republican field, Tancredo does not have the payroll of a Mitt Romney, who for the purposes of this analogy we'll title the Red Sox. Or the status of a Rudy Giuliani, who we'll call the Yankees.

(All these baseball analogies might seem forced. But they have a purpose.)

In the political spectrum, Tancredo has fashioned himself as a crusader against amnesty for illegal immigrants. And in an election cycle where the Iraq War weighs on the collective American conscience and the specter of an economic downturn has caused jitters, it is possible voters could turn to a candidate with -- for lack of a better term -- a deeper bullpen in the issues department.

In their party, Romney and Giuliani are the true fundraisers. They, like the teams they root for, have all the campaign dough.

While he has focused entirely on his presidential run this season, Tancredo, from Colorado, like his team the Rockies, has not yet decided whether he will simultaneously seek reelection to his congressional seat, where he currently represents the people of Littleton, Colo., near Denver.

Instead of arbitrarily picking a date or waiting for the early presidential nominating contests in January, Tancredo has indicated he'll just wait until the end of the baseball season to make that decision. More specifically, when the Colorado Rockies either go out of contention for their first World Series title or win the crown, Tancredo said he will announce whether he's going to run for reelection to his congressional seat.

He could have a little more time to mull.

Colorado, a wild card for the National League, swept Philadelphia in three games in their first playoff berth since 1995 -- before Tancredo had even been elected to Congress -- and heads to Arizona for the first game of the NLCS Thursday.

It begs the question: How far does hometown baseball carry inside the 2008 ballpark?