I’ll never forget the first time I heard a person pitch Steve King for president in 2012. Mere weeks after the 2008 election in which Barack Obama was selected as president, we at The Journal took a look at what names Northwest Iowans might see in the ‘12 race. (Yes, some readers said, too much, too soon.) That involved asking  Republican Party chairpersons in many surrounding counties to list their top three picks for four years off. A county chairwoman was quick to put King’s name on her list.

With GOP people like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney and others taking top mentions in early 2009, I forgot about King as a possible presidential candidate. The speculation was whether this would be the year King ran for governor, which he ultimately did not pursue.

Then last month, when interviewing Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for a profile piece on King, I asked about her perceived interest in the presidency. Before saying she had no intention to pursue the presidency, Bachmann first brought up King’s name as getting mention on Capitol Hill.

And last night, Dave Price of WHO, the Des Moines NBC affiliate, aired an interview with King in which the four-term congressman won’t rule out running for president. And why should he? King is beloved by the conservative base of the Republican Party, which in many states has a big role in pushing candidates toward victories in primaries and caucuses. King loves having a national voice on issues of importance, which doesn’t hurt his profile with the base. (Yeah, sure, he riles up Democrats, that’s a given.)

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who King has noted is essentially his twin, ran for president in 2008. Why shouldn’t Steve King?

Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King calls himself the blue-eyed Tom Tancredo, and I got to hear that twin discussion from the other perspective, when Colorado Congressman Tancredo was in Sioux City yesterday morning. In opening remarks, brown-eyed Tancredo said he looks like his “dear friend Steve King,” and shared that King’s sister-in-law once mistook him for King. As Tancredo tells it, he was on C-SPAN one evening, and King’s wife got a phone call from her sister, saying how wonderfully King was doing in his House floor appearance. Well, Marilyn King responded, he’s not at the House, he’s here in this house, sleeping.

I kept looking at Tancredo at the hotel breakfast event, and the more I looked, the more I could see them as twins. Aside from the facial likenesses, he and King even look to be about the same height, share the same build.

Since the two look so much alike, Tancredo said, its a good thing “we think so much alike,” such as King being “as dedicated as I am on immigration reform.” The two Republicans also share a philosophy of making the government as small as possible.

Tancredo shared how his blasting of President Bush for not being tough enough on illegal immigration earned a rebuke from Bush’s top adviser, Karl Rove, who told Tancredo “not to darken the doors” of the White House. After that banishment, Tancredo said he and King were at a D.C. event where the president was in attendance. They decided to switch nametags to stir things up, which Tancredo said was “pretty brave” of King to agree to. But at the last moment, right before the receiving line, Tancredo said King asked to switch the nametags back, which Tancredo conceded was probably was the right thing to do.

In less than an hour expect to see a buoyant atmosphere, when Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will hold an immigration forum in Sioux City on the heels of the collapse of a Senate immigration reform bill. We’re located here at the paper about 10 blocks from the convention center, and if Tancredo’s press release from this morning is any indication, his pleasure likely will be heard over here. His press release screamed in bold typeface, “America Wins, Amnesty Defeated.”

Tancredo termed himself “exuberant” over the senate vote “that ended the latest amnesty attempt for illegal aliens” and resulted in the bill being taken off the floor. “I worked as hard to defeat it, because this issue is huge,” he said. Read tomorrow’s Journal to see what he’ll say here in Sioux City, where he’ll likely be preaching to the choir.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was working to make SB 1348 a better bill through offered amendments, but since it had “amnesty as part of the underlying legislation, I just couldn’t support it.”

Two Democratic Party presidential candidates in press releases bemoaned the removal of the Senate immigration bill. U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, who just cancelled his June 10 Sioux City campaign stop due to sickness, said, “I am gravely disappointed that comprehensive immigration reform has again been put off, and at the tenor with which the debate was conducted. The failure of this bill was in part due to the divisiveness that has been sewn into the American political fabric over the last six years. We need to restore leadership that can bring people together to get things done.” Dodd’s hitting a key topic here — that without compromise, there will be no immigration reform bill to address what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. If efforts for a bill collapsed in September 2006 prior to the election and again now, what is the chances for comprehensive, meaningful reform now? Probably not good, as a tenuous, bipartisan Senate agreement apparently falls through.

Democrat Bill Richardson hits that topic as well in saying “the collapse of this important legislation demonstrates a tragic breakdown of lawmakers’ ability to build compromise and the president’s ability to work with Congress to get things done… Never in our history has the need for such legislation been greater — the issue is tearing the country apart and the people want action. Yet some of the members of Congress refuse to join the majority of Democrats who put the best interests of the nation first.”

This just in, minutes ago, from Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King: “The senate’s ‘grand bargain’ on immigration has gone down in inglorious defeat. Americans all across the country are dancing in the streets with joy and relief. American Rule of Law will survive another day.”

Tomorrow will be a big day concerning immigration in Northwest Iowa. First, in Denison at 2 p.m., Denison’s Cultural Diversity Committee will hold a meeting that could get quite political. Invited are Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Republican making several stops in a two-day swing through Iowa, and Rob Hubler, a Democrat and the only candidate to have announced plans to seek the 5th District congressional seat now held by Republican Steve King. As the immigration issue stays hot for a second year and a Senate deal on immigration becoming problematic this morning, both Hubler and Tancredo will be ready to hold forth.

Hubler said the current U.S. immigration policies are unworkable and he’ll lay out what should be done with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. When Hubler says the borders must be secured, he’s with a strong majority in the U.S., but when he says the U.S. should “show compassion to those who come to this country seeking the American way of life,” well, that smacks of support for that hot-button word amnesty, which will be a launching point for Republicans to attack.

Hubler said he’s glad the Denison committee is getting people with a variety of views. Said Hubler, “The congressman and I are on different ends of the spectrum. But … this is not a debate between Rob Hubler and Tom Tancredo. Rather, it is a forum for the public to hear two sides of what is becoming our most polarizing domestic issue, that can only be settled through compromise.”

For his part Tancredo has hitched his candidacy to a get-tough immigration policy. Two days ago, he announced the “Save America Campaign,” in which he hopes to push public input to kill the Senate bill on immigration reform that President Bush supports. The campaign asks Americans to sign a “No Amnesty Citizen Petition,” asking their senators to vote against what Tancredo summarizes as the “McCain-Kennedy-Bush Amnesty Bill,” also known as Senate Bill 1348. Further, Tancredo vowed to personally campaign against any senator who does not sign the no-amnesty petition.

Said Tancredo, “I am outraged that the senate is debating a bill that gives amnesty to illegal immigrants, which rewards lawbreakers, shows contempt for those immigrants who wait their turn and enter America illegally, violates the rule of law and encourages millions more to come to our country illegally. I demand Republican senators stand up to George W. Bush, the Hispanic lobby and the corporate special interests and stand up for America.”

There will be a second chance to see Tancredo address the immigration issue when he holds a presidential campaign event at 6 p.m. at the Sioux City Convention Center. The event is planned as an immigration forum. There will be one other presidential candidate in the area this weekend, as Democrat Chris Dodd on Sunday will attend the Cathedral of Epiphany street fair (10 a.m.) and hold a town hall meeting at the Olsen Student Center of Morningside College (12:30 p.m.)

Looking back at the headline causes a chuckle. Just over a week ago, our Page 1 feature was on the future of two-time (unsuccessful) governor candidate Bob Vander Plaats, which had the headline, “Vander Plaats puts politics on backburner.” He told me that his leadership firm would take up most of his time, as well as the launch tomorrow of his book, “Light from Lucas.” I got a preview copy of the book and have read a few pages, including a part where Vander Plaats mother described how his senior year high school basketball team was destined to win a key tourney game, since the opposing team practiced on the Sabbath.

Then last night, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Vander Plaats would serve as the chairman for his Iowa exploratory presidential committee. In last week’s article, Vander Plaats said, “I know the state of Iowa as well as anyone right now.” Huckabee nearly mirrored that, with “No Iowa conservative enjoys a broader statewide political base than Bob Vander Plaats. He has built an impressive grassroots network through his clear vision of the future, hard work and an unwavering commitment to core conservative values. His support for a potential presidential campaign is a big, big boost for us and clearly signals that Iowa’s conservatives are receptive to my message of hope.”

Bill Salier, the 2002 U.S. Senate candidate who two days ago announced he will lead the Iowa campaign of Congressman Tom Tancredo (scroll down about two blog posts), might beg to differ. Salier also garnered Iowa Republican conservative support, although it could be said that Vander Plaats has stronger ties with that segment of the party, given he’s had the more recent run.

As he explores a run for the 2008 presidency, Congresman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., will be in Sioux City to speak to local Republicans. In a weekend stop, Tancredo will spend Friday in Des Moines, then meet at Luciano’s restaurant in Sioux City on Saturday before traveling to Council Bluffs.

In releasing the Tancredo itinerary, 2002 U.S. Senate candidate and Iowa farmer Bill Salier noted he had signed on to run Tancredo’s campaign in Iowa. Salier said lots of presidential candidates inquired about his services, but he didn’t find a match worth leaving the farm until being contacted by Tancredo, with whom Salier had been intrigued for months. Tancredo hasn’t officially announced a run for the presidency, but he has formed an exploratory committee.

Trivia — In looking up Tancredo’s bio, I found a picture that confirmed something Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King told me, that King considers himself “the blue-eyed Tom Tancredo.” Their distinct likeness would definitely make for inclusion in the old Spy Magazine “Separated at Birth” section.

It’s hard to read the Newsweek cover story on immigration and not think of Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King.

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12017855/site/newsweek/

Newsweek posits that Colorado Congressman Tom Tan Credo is “the loudest, angriest voice against the estimated 11 million illegal aliens now living in the United States.” Additionally, the Republican wants to build a fence along the Mexican border and is prodding the Bush administration to ditch any sort of illegal immigrant amnesty program.

Those positions are pretty much ditto for King, who could be wondering why he wasn’t the focus of the article. What Tan Credo espouses, King pretty much believes as well. Heck, he even had Tan Credo as the keynoter in an immigration forum that King set up in Des Moines in 2005.

Yesterday, in a press release, King slammed the immigration reform measure that passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday night. King reasoned that the committee “just punted at the chance to give the American people real, comprehensive immigration reform and abandoned the rule of law. If we reward (with amnesty) millions of illegals who are working illegally in the U.S. right now, even more will make a mad dash for the U.S. border to get in line for the next amnesty. This amnesty plan only encourages more illegal border crossings, smuggling and law breaking.”

Vintage Tan Credo, er, King.