By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington � Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar revealed Wednesday that he talked at length about immigration reform over breakfast with President Bush.

Salazar then eclipsed that news with something else he said during his conference call with reporters.

Elaborating on what it would take to pass new immigration laws in both the Senate and the U.S. House, Salazar said he hoped that “the president can himself weigh in and try to make sure that the House crazies don’t derail a workable immigration reform package.‿

Salazar declined to say who he meant by “House crazies.‿ But the words set off a flurry of finger-pointing in the Colorado congressional delegation.

“House crazies‿ was a term applied in the 1970s to a conservative group in the Colorado House of Representatives that included then-state Rep. Tom Tancredo. Now a congressman from Littleton, Tancredo leads the movement that opposes Bush’s plan for a guest-worker program, saying it amounts to amnesty for those in the country illegally.

Bush political adviser Karl Rove famously told Tancredo in 2002 to never darken the White House’s door again because of Tancredo’s immigration comments.

“I don’t mind being called a ‘House crazy’ too much,‿ Tancredo said of Salazar’s remark in a press release. “After all, by Ken’s analysis, 36 Democrats are ‘crazy,’ including his brother John.‿

Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, was among 36 Democrats who voted for the House version of the immigration bill, which passed in December on a 239-182 vote. It included tough border security provisions and no guest-worker plan.

“Congressman Salazar often laughs when Tom Tancredo speaks,‿ Rep. Salazar’s spokeswoman Nayyera Haq said. “Congressman Salazar is not the crazy one in the delegation.‿

All but one of Colorado’s representatives � Diana DeGette, D-Denver � voted for the House immigration bill. But both John Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, while supporting increased border security, also favor the type of guest-worker program that Bush and Ken Salazar want, and that Tancredo and Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Arvada oppose.

“I haven’t had anybody at home (in Colorado) call me crazy,‿ Beauprez, a candidate for Colorado governor, said Wednesday. “I think the folks back home want … first and foremost, before you give lip service to anything else, you’d better secure our borders.‿

Ken Salazar, Beauprez and Gov. Bill Owens discussed immigration legislation for about 30 minutes with Bush and Rove over breakfast while Bush was in Colorado Feb. 21. The group met at 7:20 a.m. at the Inverness Hotel in Arapahoe County, where they ate scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit. Bush told them he had eaten earlier and just nibbled on the fruit, Beauprez recalled.

Bush brought up immigration, and focused on the type of comprehensive plan he wants and how to get it passed into law.

“I know that he would like to have an immigration reform package get through the Senate that is a workable solution,’’ Salazar said of Bush. “I told the president as well as others here I’m going to work very hard to make sure that happens.‿

Beauprez did “a lot of listening‿ and not much talking at that breakfast, he said, declining to tell the president his own feelings about the need for absolute border security before even talking about a guest-worker plan.

“That would not have been in my opinion a productive nor a pleasant conversation to have,‿ Beauprez said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today will begin discussing immigration reform legislation, attempting to agree on a bill that could be put before the Senate for a vote.

Committee chairman Arlen Specter, R-Penn., introduced a proposal that merges previously introduced legislation. Ken Salazar has signed on as a co-sponsor of legislation authored by Sens. Jon McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., that provides for both a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million people living illegally in the U.S.

“I would hope that cooler heads could prevail here,’’ Salazar said of the debate over the issue.