May 12, 2007 7:02 AM

Can Tancredo rev it up? (UPDATED)

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Photo courtesy of Cyndy Stroh.

Rep. Tom Tancredo began his latest Iowa barnstorming Friday with a dress-code violation, a prayer and a tense verbal confrontation in a hotel lobby.

Ho, hum. Just another day.

(LOOKIE HERE for the full story that appeared in the tree-killing version of the Rocky Mountain News. Or LOOK RIGHT HERE for the way the Des Moines Register covered this man who is alien to Iowa.)

And then, on Saturday he got his motor runnin'.

You might not know it from looking at him, but Tancredo is a motorcycle enthusiast. (That's what the Hell's Angels call themselves, right?) So on Saturday, he put on his yellow polo shirt, tan pants, white socks and brown loafers so he could join a rally of freedom-loving rapscallions from the motorcycle-rights group ABATE of Iowa.

Unfortunately, his ride to the starting line in Waterloo, Iowa, was delayed, so when he arrived his denim jacket (transported from Colorado to Iowa for just this occasion) was sitting on a borrowed motorcycle in a mostly-empty parking lot. View image

Hundreds of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts in varying amounts of black leather had departed about a half hour earlier. But have no fear. The group's membership officer, Lance Husmann, and his 13-year-old daughter, Kim, said they'd lead the way and help Tancredo catch up to the rally.

It was then that Tancredo became perhaps the first presidential candidate to be asked the following question:

"Do you want a do-rag?"

Tancredo took a pass -- and he didn't use a helmet either. He got his motor running, headed down the highway, looking for adventure...

Husmann remembered how he and another guy at the headquarters got a call saying Tancredo planned to join the rally.

"The first time I heard his name was a week before we had the ride," Husmann said. "We both looked at each other and said, 'Who's this guy?'"

And that's a problem Tancredo faces in this crowded race for the Republican presidential nomination. He has pockets of enthusiastic backers scattered across Iowa and neighboring states. One couple drove 150 miles from neighboring Illinois -- in a car -- just for the chance to mingle with Tancredo and hundreds of other motorcycle enthusiasts, many of them preferring leather pants and boots instead of tan slacks, white socks and brown loafers.

But on the long, winding road to get to the rally, few, if any, pedestrians or passing motorists seemed to recognize Tancredo.

So that's why he's here in Iowa for four days, cranking up the throttle and trying to make a little more noise.

UPDATE: Photographer Scott Mussell and reporter Drew Andersen at the Courier offer their perspectives of the day's events HERE.

For a sort of dramatic re-enactment, see "Easy Rider" redux, starring Dennis Hopper.

Posted by M.E. Sprengelmeyer at 7:02 AM | Comments (5)