…who loves my home town, I can’t say I’m enamored with the field of candidates coming from there to vie for the Presidential election in 2008. Not Hillary (perish the thought!), not Giuliani, who made a fine mayor, but…, not Bloomberg, heaven forbid, should he decide to run.

The specter of an all-New York November 2008 was raised when Bloomberg, a titular Republican since his 2001 mayoral run, announced last week that he was quitting the GOP to become an independent. His predecessor, Giuliani, is running for the Republican nomination for president, while second-term New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the Democratic hopefuls.

While New Yorkers are all too aware of the differences between the Big Apple’s big three, folks beyond the Hudson River were not as certain.

“I think basically they are the same candidate,” said Bob House, a Republican from Des Moines, Iowa. “We all love New York. But when our options are New York, New York, New York, I think people want to see a different life experience.”

Angeles Perry, 65, feeding the slot machines in Las Vegas, saw more similarities than differences among the New York triumvirate.

“They have the money,” said the retiree from California’s Silicon Valley. “And they all have big egos.”

As far as I’m concerned, the best candidate for the next POTUS election remains Colorado’s Tom Tancredo, a man who has proven, as opposed to merely delivering campaign promises, that he fights hard on behalf of his supporters to deliver results.

The U.S. House of Representatives this morning voted to withhold federal emergency services funding for “sanctuary cities” that protect illegal immigrants.

Anti-illegal immigration champion Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sponsored the measure, which he says would apply to cities such as Denver and Boulder. He was elated by its passage, which stunned critics and supporters alike.

The Littleton Republican’s amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill appears to have no language specifically defining a sanctuary city. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has long disputed giving the city that label.

“The issue has come to fruition,” Tancredo said by cell phone after the vote. “The people of the country really have spoken. It’s a really good indicator of just how much closer to the people the House is than the Senate is.”

The House passed the amendment, 234 to 189, with 50 Democrats voting in favor.

Tancredo and his staffers hooted and cheered from his office across the street from the Capitol immediately after the vote.

Run, Tom, run!