Tancredo's out of the running; backs Romney

GOP prez contender Tom Tancredo is abandoning his bid for the presidency and throwing his support behind former rival Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

The anti-illegal immigration crusader said he realized the odds of his becoming president were "enormous," but he said he believes his quest brought immigration to the forefront.

"I am estatic about the fact that we can say we have made remarkable progress along those lines," he said from his campaign headquarters in Des Moines.

"Just last week Newsweek declared that 'Anti-immigrant zealot [that would be me] had already won,' " Tancredo said in a letter posted on his website. " 'Now even Dems dance to his no mas salsa tune.' This month alone The Economist, the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and a score of other newspapers have written similar assessments, grudgingly crediting our campaign with forcing the issue of immigration to the center of the national stage and, more importantly, with forcing every presidential candidate to commit themselves to an immigration plan that calls for securing the borders, opposing amnesty and enforcing the law."