[UncleSamUSA]

always right: you make a good point. I would rewrite the sentence simply substituting “GOP base” for “the media”...

Fred Thompson is in the race, Rothenberg said, “because the GOP BASE needs a new name. He’s a vessel each of them can pour their hopes and dreams into, the Republican Barack Obama.”

[WOSG]

always right: you make a good point. I would rewrite the sentence simply substituting “GOP base” for “the media”... Fred Thompson is in the race, Rothenberg said, “because the GOP BASE needs a new name. He’s a vessel each of them can pour their hopes and dreams into, the Republican Barack Obama.”

Your rewrite makes PERFECT sense! ... You see the Dems want a candidate who was not soiled by compromise on the Iraq war, so they go after the multi-culti neophyte.

The GOP base wants a candidate unsullied by the compromises, big spending and non-conservative compromises. There are so few of them out there.