Tancredo Eligible for Primary Matching Funds

ABC News’ Z. Bryon Wolf Reports: Anti-amnesty crusader and Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo officially qualified for federal matching funds today. This will be a boon to the campaign and far expand the reach of Tancredo’s buying power through the early primaries.

He had already raised nearly $1.5 million dollars (far more than the $100,000 in small donations from 20 states needed to qualify for matching funds) and had spent nearly all of it. His base of anti-illegal immigration activists is committed, however, and Tancredo has raised more than some other second-tier candidates.

"This certification assures that the Tancredo campaign will be well funded through the early primaries," Tancredo National Chair Bay Buchanan said today in a press release. "The momentum that the Congressman has received from his supporters has been tremendous and now we will have the funds to raise the level of his fight against open-borders politicians."

While the matching funds give a lifeline to a campaign like Tancredo’s, they constrict some of the bigger-name candidates.

Candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama waived their right to federal matching funds because they did not want to be hindered by the $50 million cap should they make it to the general election. Republican Senator John McCain, whose campaign had foundered this summer, is also qualified for matching funds.