Posted on 09/02/2007 4:18:47 PM PDT by wagglebee
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson officially joins the presidential race on Thursday, and Rudy Giuliani and his team are watching closely to determine how much of an impact his candidacy will have on Giuliani.
"He's a Southerner, and he's a senator, and that gives him credibility," Barry Wynn, a top Giuliani adviser in South Carolina, tells Newsday. "He's certainly weaker today in terms of the level of enthusiasm of his supporters than he was a month ago ... but I certainly see him as serious competition."
Giuliani currently sits atop every major national poll, and is leading decisively in states like California and Florida. But he still faces deep skepticism from conservatives who drive the nominating process. Those are the same people who are likely to be Thompson supporters, analysts say, and that could mean Thompson won't fade any time soon.
"I was totally dismissive of his chance to get the nomination, and I'm not dismissive anymore," Stu Rothenberg, a Washington political analyst, told Newsday. "He's hung in there."
The worry for Giuliani is that Thompson could prove just as appealing to conservatives on tax cuts and terrorism -- with the added bonus of agreeing with them on social issues like abortion and gun control. It's a theme Thompson's advisers already have suggested they will play up, the importance of nominating a candidate who embodies every part of the party's beliefs.
Rooty Toot is so arrogant that he doesn't realize how out of touch he is with conservative values, he will spout his leftist ideals and be stunned when conservatives don't vote for him.
Thompson might be the one who can rip the Democrat Nominee
a new behind. The Hillary Quick Response Team may already have dirt and mud to throw at Fred Thompson since he was a Senator where Hillary seems to know all the gossip. Do not think Rooty is a very good candidate anyway.
I agree. He didn't run against Hillary in NY the first time because he had cancer - I can only conclude he didn't run against her the second time around because he didn't think he could beat her. I don't know what makes him think he can beat her now.
I have NEVER believed that Rooty’s reason for not running in 2000 was cancer. Being mayor of NYC is arguably far more stressful than a senatorial campaign, but he didn’t step down (in fact, after 9/11 he attempted the classic leftist move of usurping power based on an emergency). And he clearly didn’t run against her last year because he knew he would lose.
Heheh-—Rooty’s “Impossible Dream.”
I guess The Rudester likes tilting at windmills.
All three of them ?
lol
Me neither. He was getting really bad press after the acquittal in the Diallo shooting in early 2000. His fiscal plan was crumbling, he was being accused of cronyism in contracting (and his admin was under federal investigation), and his personal life was front and center in the news (girlfriend, scorned wife, etc). He publicly became unhinged in late March/April and his approval ratings were at an all time low. I think he cut and run to save any portion of his public image before the whole nation understood who he really was.
Wide Awakes is certainly a conservative site.
It does have a certain contingency who like Rudy and are allowed to express that opinion.
I’m not in that camp. I’m for Fred Thompson.
But I would vote for Rudy over any of the dems if that became the choice.
What about the WAnker comment?
But I wasn’t just talking about this particular thread. I see this stuff on Free Republic all the time.
Ever been over there when the topic of Free Republic comes up? They fall all over themselves about how they were the best minds here and all that’s left is a bunch of knuckle draggers, etc.
A few ‘WAnker’ comments really doesn’t compare and certainly isn’t worth making a stink about.
The real reason to not go there isn’t because it’s boring, but because the software they run is so frightfully awful that it gives you a headache after about 5 minutes.
Many of Rudy’s supporters have been very nasty to some of us here at FreeRepublic in the past. I’m honestly not sorry to see them gone. Conservatives don’t vote for liberals.
Thank you! The print is way to small for me to see & it's light colored on a pastel background, I have to lean forward and squint to see it. Pretty colors though, if you're painting a room.
Well, everything is relative, I guess. Compared to DU, they are conservative.
But in my book, folks who push liberals like Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, qualify their titles as "practical conservatives," and think the Republican Party needs to abandon much of its platform and move left to win, aren't my cup of tea--nor would I call them conservatives.
Yep, I'd have to agree with that. All the better, a good reason to get back into the votin' booth!
I'm not sure how much stock I put in natl. polls for a primary season. We aren't voting as a nation; we are voting state-by-state. I guess it would depend on the methodology of the pollster, but a strong showing in a couple of populous states might well skew the results.
For example, the TX primary isn't until a month after Super Tuesday. The nomination might well be sewn up by the time Texans get a say.
Actually it’s like a dozen. They roam in small herds...
This instance of Fred is short for Frederick, not Alfred. The “alf” comes from the root meaning elf, and “red” counsel. Unless he has a source attaching the f- onto Frederick and retaining the same red- root, he hasn’t done his homework at all.
Rudy wouldn’t need to worry about anything at all if his message was one that could rally conservatives.
Well, you may know more about it than I do. I mostly go on the benign neighborly threads and those people are very conservative.
I also have not seen the rancor towards FR there that you all have seen. It is called TOS (the old site) but not in a hateful way ... but maybe I’ve missed what you have seen.
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