Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson announced yesterday that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination and is betting that he will do well in Iowa, the neighboring state where he has been campaigning for months.

Speaking on ABC's This Week, Thompson said he is confident he will win in January's Iowa caucus, despite polling in the low single digits.

"I've been in Iowa every single week since the first week in December," he told host George Stephanopoulos. "I've been visiting individuals and groups and talking to people every single week, and I've been into over 30 counties, one-third of the counties, and over 100 communities, and it's really looking good."

Thompson served as secretary of health and human services under President Bush after four terms as governor. But he said that his presidency would differ "tremendously" from Bush's.

Thompson said he would have a "completely different" strategy in Iraq, promising to remove all U.S. troops if Iraq requests it.

"If the government duly elected . . . says, 'We want the American troops, the American government out,' we should leave," he said.

Thompson joins an already crowded field of about a dozen possible Republican candidates. He may find himself running against a similarly named candidate, Law & Order star Fred Thompson. In the latest Gallup poll, Tommy Thompson had the support of 2 percent of likely Republican voters. Fred Thompson was in third place with 12 percent, behind former New York governor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Tommy Thompson said yesterday that he is the only candidate who has put together federal and state budgets.

"Oh, they're all wonderful people," he said of his adversaries. "I didn't say that they weren't. I just said that I am the reliable conservative. My record shows that."

Tancredo is, too

Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo will announce his bid for president today.

Tancredo will kick off his campaign with an announcement in Iowa, where political caucuses start the presidential nominating season, an official close to the congressman said.

Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa would say only that Tancredo will announce his intentions and that his decision whether to run for president won't affect whether he will run again for his House seat.

Tancredo, a five-term House member who represents the Denver suburbs, is a leading supporter of securing the nation's Southern border with Mexico and cracking down on illegal immigration. He has used the issue to take on President Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain, a leading contender for the GOP nomination.

Tancredo acknowledges that he is a long shot for president, but he has said he hopes to rattle McCain's campaign in Iowa by appealing to conservatives on immigration, abortion and other issues.

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