Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 5/31/2007, 6:13:00 AM by Politicalmom
It's not too late for the actor to make a splash in the state's wait-and-see GOP fundraising pool.
Republican presidential candidates have been hitting up Florida donors for months, so you might think actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson is too late getting in the game.
Not necessarily.
Underscoring how Jeb Bush's departure from Tallahassee has changed Florida's political scene, an overwhelming majority of President Bush's top political fundraisers in Florida are sitting on the sidelines so far in the 2008 presidential race. Of the 54 Floridians who raised at least $100,000 for Bush-Cheney in 2004, only 10 have given to any Republican contender to succeed Bush, a St. Petersburg Times review found.
Veteran Republican fundraisers attribute the hesitance to the mighty Florida Bush fundraising network no longer having a Bush on the ballot, to uncertainty or ambivalence about the current top-tier Republicans, to early supporters of unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial Tom Gallagher wanting to play it safer this cycle and wait for a clear leader to emerge.
What's more, Gov. Charlie Crist is holding off on an endorsement and has quietly encouraged some key Republican fundraisers to wait as well.
"He's Florida's best fundraiser so he brings millions to the table. How many millions depends on whether he really cranks up his machine," said Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard, a fundraiser for John McCain. "There's a lot of Republicans who are used to being told by the chain of command what to do. Without Jeb or Charlie doing that, there's a vacuum."
Whatever the reason so many key Republican check bundlers are uncommitted, Thompson has plenty of opportunity to raise money in Florida.
Democrats have raised more Florida money this year than Republicans, including $1.88-million for Hillary Rodham Clinton and more than $1-million for Barack Obama. Among top Republicans, Mitt Romney has raised about $991,000, McCain about $963,000 and Rudy Giuliani about $822,000.
Thompson's prospective candidacy has been generating considerable buzz among conservatives who are unenthusiastic about the current Republican field, and the former Tennessee senator is expected to create a political committee Monday to start a major fundraising drive.
The 64-year-old Law & Order actor has shown little sign of organization in Florida, but he has sparked interest. Even before he signaled a likely candidacy, about one in 10 Florida Republicans in a St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9 poll this month said they favored him.
"I think that he has an ability to energize the grass roots better than any of the current candidates," U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, who is uncommitted, said Wednesday. "He has a conservative reputation and a very authoritative demeanor that people find appealing. He's got movie star attributes that he brings to the table."
The 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign dubbed people who raised at least $100,000 for the campaign "Pioneers" and people who raised at least $200,000 "Rangers."
Through March 31, five of those elite Bush fundraisers had contributed to or formally endorsed Romney, four were helping McCain, one was helping Giuliani, and one, private prisons executive George Zoley, had given to Democrat Bill Richardson. Richardson is governor of New Mexico, where Zoley's firm has state contracts.
Nancy Watkins, a Tampa accountant and Republican activist backing Romney, said comparing Republican fundraising this year to 2004 and 2000 is difficult because there is no longer a sitting governor helping his brother win or hold the White House.
"A lot of these Rangers may have had a longtime relationships with the Bush family, from the first President Bush to Jeb Bush, to George W.," agreed former Gov. Bob Martinez of Tampa, a Ranger in 2004 who has not yet decided on a candidate this year.
All of the top presidential candidates have been courting Tampa developer Al Austin, the former state GOP finance chairman, but he hasn't made up his mind.
"It's hard to choose," Austin said. "My concern is, I want to line up with the one that has the best chance of winning, and at this point in time it's hard for me to determine in my own mind which one that is."
bttt
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Gee, I wonder...
The guy refuses to admit that he is running.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Fred Thompson said in an interview that he plans to run for U.S. president in 2008, joining a crowded field of Republican candidates.
“I can’t remember exactly the point I said, ‘I’m going to do this,’” Thompson said of his planned presidential run in Thursday’s edition of USA Today.
“But when I did, the thing that occurred to me: ‘I’m going to tell people that I am thinking about it and see what kind of reaction I get to it.’”
Thompson, a 64-year-old social conservative, said he was planning a campaign that will use blogs, video posts and other Internet innovations to reach voters turned off by “politics-as-usual” in both parties, USA Today said.
He is too important to state that he is running?
He wants to start off his fundraising officially at the beginning of the third quarter. I see nothing wrong with that.
Geez, give the guy a break.
He's not spending money but instead he's raising it, he's barely lifting a finger...and he's in the top tier in all the pols.
His strategy is quite effective.
Additionally, by not declaring yet, Thompson makes money from his career and is not spending it hand over fist like, for example, Romney is. Note that even though the campaign rules expressly state that regularly scheduled media activities are not subject to ''fairness'' considerations, the left are already insisting that both episodes of ''Law & Order'' showing Fred, and any/all of Fred's films, ahould no longer be broadcast after he declares his candidacy. You can bet your sweet life that, should (hypothetically) Katie Couric declare her candidacy, the left would make no such claim.
One other thing: the attention span of the American public is notoriously short, and their ''burnout'' rate is enormously high. By not declaring, Fred mitigates these two factors to the best extent possible.
I suggest that, given your comments, you are either totally anti-Thompson (for what reason is very elusive), or your understanding of the admittedly screwy American presidential election process is rather flawed.
Or both. '
Exactly, and well said. See also #11.
Your "skepticism" was anthracitic at the start.
You deride me for wanting a Presidential candidate with a backbone?
You implied your skepticism had been hardened. I believe your skepticism was already as hard as coal, your contrary feint notwithstanding.
Put a female rat in estrous (heat) in a cage with a male rat, sleeping as they usually do. The female will saunter over to male and abruptly turn her hindside directly and close in front of the male. And if that doesn't get him up and running, she'll give a lightly, but sharply delivered back kick which usually grazes his nose. The she runs off for a short distance and stops abruptly with her ass high in the air (lordosis, it's called). Then the on-rushing male has no choice but to run into her and consummate.
Of course this mating strategy is followed most species...including Fred Thompson.
He’s running. His announcement will be timed to suit Federal election laws.
Do you really not understand THIS fundamental point?
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