Posted on 09/22/2007 7:12:31 AM PDT by jellybean
A daily round-up of Fred news.
Duty calls Thompson to run for president Fred Thompson is auditioning for his biggest role, and he plans to play it just like all of his movie and TV roles.
"I kind of play myself most of the time," said Thompson, who has played a New York district attorney on NBC's "Law & Order." "That way they can't tell me I'm doing it wrong, (though) that doesn't stop them."
The former Tennessee senator must be doing something right. A Gallup Poll conducted Sept. 14-16 showed Thompson in second place in the GOP field. He trailed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani 30 percent to 22 percent and led John McCain, 18 percent, and Mitt Romney, 7 percent.
A Rasmussen Poll from Sept. 13-16 showed Thompson leading Giuliani 28 percent to 19 percent.
Those numbers seem to knock down the speculation he waited too long to get into the race.
"It doesn't look like when I got in has hurt me too much," Thompson said after a Cedar Rapids stop on his kickoff tour earlier this month. Some of his GOP rivals have been running since last winter. "You have to work as hard as you can regardless of when you get in."
Hitwise Online Competitive Intelligence Service reports Thompson's Web site is drawing more visitors than any other presidential hopeful -- 21 percent of the share of site visits compared with Barack Obama's 17 percent.
Thompson's not running for the GOP presidential nomination to fulfill a lifelong dream. Instead, he said, he's running out of a sense of duty and a belief that he has the skills needed for the job at this time.
"Quite frankly, it has not been my personal ambition to hold this office," Thompson said. Instead, "I just felt it was time to step up.
"Every once in a while, the problems are so great they come off the sidewalk up on our doorstep and are opening the door and we can't avoid them any longer," he said.
This is one of those times, he believes. The nation's concerns include the ongoing threat of Islamist terrorism, the economic threat of entitlements, border security and the need to support families and to protect children from what Thompson called "the harder edges of culture."
None of those issues will be solved by partisan demagoguery, Thompson said. He believes he has the experience, "but more importantly, the wisdom to see the nature of the challenges that are facing us."
Then, he said, he would lead a "national conversation where all parties and all people, and the people, have a seat at the table."
It will take someone who can bring together Republicans and Democrats to address those issues, Thompson said.
"No one man can solve these problems, no one party can solve these problems. The American people, together, can do anything," he said.
And if "a solid majority can come together on some of these basic things, then politicians will have to follow suit."
That approach to problem-solving is part of what attracted Karen Fesler of Coralville to the Thompson camp. She met Thompson several election cycles ago and and has listened to him on news programs.
"He seems to represent most of the ideas we believe in," Fesler said, citing Thompson's advocacy for tax reform built on simplicity, fairness and growth. He wants a new tax code to lighten the burden on taxpayers and make the United States more competitive abroad. He'd also dissolve the IRS "as we know it."
"He seems to try consensus-building," said Fesler, a Johnson County businesswoman. "He was in Senate in a time when Republicans didn't always have the majority, but he was able to get some things done."
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said his impression of Thompson is that he was "kind of bored being a senator" and that he didn't work hard at the job.
But Robert Haus of Urbandale, who is heading the Thompson campaign in Iowa, said he sees Thompson as "a man who rises to the occasion, a guy who has gone in and out of public service. ... He's not a career politician, but yet when called upon or (when) he feels like it's necessary to get involved, he does."
Thompson rejects the notion a Republican can't win the presidency in 2008.
"That's not true at all. A year is a lifetime in politics. Things change rapidly, and we don't know who the nominees will be yet," Thompson said.
Voters "are going to vote for the best person, the person they feel like will lead us through this these challenging times."
He predicted that the overriding issue in 2008 will be "whether we are stronger or weaker, more divided or less divided."
"These are some very basic things that are more important than partisan politics," Thompson said.
"You've got to be strong and stand for principles and serve as a magnet to draw people to you," he said. "There are an awful lot of independents and even some Democrats who we have a chance to appeal to if we do that."
Fred Thompson, The Kinder Gentler Candidate Ken Hughes
September 20, 2007Rudy Giuliani can stand toe to toe with Hillary kissing babies and stealing their candy suckers. Rudy and Hillary are pit bulls who can compete equally in the political arena like the Gladiators of old Rome. Fred Thompson is more like the St Bernard who comes up the mountain to bring us back down to the valley of peace and tranquility. There’s been enough of the screaming and ridiculous accusations, its time for some rational thinking and addressing the real problems facing the country, not scaring the hell out of the voters with a bunch of trash talk. Chicken Little has gone to Colonel Sanders Heaven and the sky is still up there overhead, it hasn’t fallen.
It’s noteworthy while the other candidates from both parties are busy slinging mud at each other Fred’s been out there discussing the issues facing this country. There aren’t that many problems and they aren’t that serious. Most politicians think they have to be fighting some mythical Goliath in order to justify their existence. At this point most of the public would be willing to pay congress to stay home for a session or two, we’ve had enough government for a while. While Fred Thompson has no intention of becoming a cloned Ronald Reagan he recognizes the merits of a Raganesque base for his conservative campaign. Fred recognizes less is better than more when it comes to the size of government.
Much has been made of Fred Thompson being an actor, [aren’t they all?] Each time we see Hillary or most of the other candidates their eyes are either glued on a teleprompter or they’re darting up and down like strings on a puppet reading a preparied statement. So far Fred Thompson is the only candidate who has spoken for an hour extemporaneously without the aid of handler’s man, paper of electronics. As Fred is fond of saying no one can speak for Fred Thompson quite as well as Fred Thompson. Good actors must have discipline. They must conform to the mandates of the project they’ve committed to. Politicians on the other hand can graze like milk cows in a green pasture.
Much of what we’ve heard Fred Thompson say is ”Here are my thoughts on the subject but we’ll have to wait and see when we get there.” To me that makes a lot more sense than making a bunch of promises that can’t be kept. We are 13 months from the elections the earth will rotate many times before we go to the polls. Who knows what will be relevant in 13 months and what won’t, [no one.] The most that can be done is a best guess scenario and then pray.
In the beginning the Media was trying to politely write Fred Thompson off as irrelevant, he hadn’t raised enough money, he waited to long to enter the race, his trophy wife would sink his campaign, and his staff was leaving in drives. The media had an answer for everything none of which mattered to Fred he went about his business building a following, bringing him to number two even before he announced his intentions. He had his campaign planned out and wasn’t about to be thrown off track by the nay-sayers. lf Fred attracts as much attention after his announcement as he did before he’s a viable candidate and a potential winner in the race for the Whitehouse.
Wouldn’t it be a hoot of Kentucky Bourbon replaced designer bottled water as the drink of choice in Washington D C. The tattoo parlors will be swamped creating “Red Necks” yes the bureaucrats are that stupid. The proof is when Carter came to town they all ate grits, now that’s stupid.
The voters have a choice next election perhaps for the final time to turn the Marxist ideology of Hillary and the Democrats out and reestablish a government of “We the People.” America wasn’t built on what the government can do for the people, rather what the people can do for them selves with minimal government interference. It’s time for the public to take back their government and reduce it to a manageable size, Fred may not be able to dismantle what 70 years of socialism has created, he can sure as hell can make a huge dent in eight years in the Whitehouse.
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I love it. :)
Great articles jellybean.
I loved this part:
“In the beginning the Media was trying to politely write Fred Thompson off as irrelevant, he hadn’t raised enough money, he waited to long to enter the race, his trophy wife would sink his campaign, and his staff was leaving in drives. The media had an answer for everything none of which mattered to Fred he went about his business building a following, bringing him to number two even before he announced his intentions. He had his campaign planned out and wasn’t about to be thrown off track by the nay-sayers. lf Fred attracts as much attention after his announcement as he did before he’s a viable candidate and a potential winner in the race for the Whitehouse.”
Where voters live, Thompson matters By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published September 23, 2007We have made the case through the year for how each major 2008 presidential contender can win. These columns see politics.tampabay.com for past installments aren't predictions or endorsements, mind you, just food for thought. This week, Republican Fred Thompson.
There have been so many dismissive or blistering articles about Fred Thompson in recent months, I half expected last weekend to see Larry, Curly or Moe lead a bumbling three-day bus tour through Florida.
George Will likens the former Tennessee senator to overhyped New Coke; Robert Novak suggests the late-announcing candidate may have crashed and burned before takeoff; Dick Morris declares him clearly over his head on the campaign trail.
These guys need get out of the Beltway for a few days and see what's happening on the ground in places like Florida. They're underestimating hunger among Republicans for an alternative to the current field.
"I've been fighting to find a candidate I can support," said David Nelson, a retiree from Fort Myers Beach, echoing Republican after Republican who came out to see Thompson in Cape Coral recently. "Fred is so straightforward and comes off so logical, he's the kind of candidate people have been screaming for."
Yes, the 65-year-old lawyer/lobbyist/actor was vague or uninformed about some key issues like Terri Schiavo, offshore drilling and a national catastrophic fund while campaigning in Florida. Yes, Thompson had a languid pace of campaigning, with lots of hours driving on a cushy campaign bus between occasional events. No, he's not a riveting orator.
But even after Thompson's weakest performances - in Cape Coral he breathed heavily into the microphone, lost his train of thought, and at one point under the sweltering sun, his hand started shaking ominously - people gushed with passion and constantly compared him to Ronald Reagan.
"Fred Thompson sounds like he's really down to earth, in contrast to what we're seeing from some of the other candidates," said Joe DeRose, a retired pharmaceutical company manger in The Villages. "He comes off as very believable, and I think it's because his values are the values of the American people."
Certainly, Thompson shares some of Reagan's Teflon. The fallout from publicity about the shaky start of his campaign organization, about him once lobbying for an abortion rights group, about him not belonging to a church, about Nixon viewing the young Senate Watergate Committee lawyer as a "dumb as hell" ally? So far, zip.
Most national polls show him in a close second place to Rudy Giuliani among Republicans. A Mason-Dixon poll of likely GOP voters in Florida released last week found Giuliani and Thompson in a dead heat, with 24 percent and 23 percent support respectively, followed by 13 percent for Mitt Romney.
Despite his many years as a Washington lobbyist, Thompson is pitching himself as a folksy, outsider with a track record for stepping up for public service when his country needs him: as the 30-year-old minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee; as the lawyer in a Tennessee whistle-blower case that wound up leading to the imprisonment of a governor and Thompson playing himself in the movie; as part of the Republican Revolution in 1994.
If he can bump off Romney as the viable conservative alternative to Giuliani - thrice married, estranged from his own children, supports gay rights, abortion rights and gun control - the nomination may be Thompson's for the taking. It won't be easy, but there is a path for Thompson and Florida is a key part.
Late-starting, Thompson probably won't win the crucial early contests of Iowa and New Hampshire. But he must finish strong enough to keep Romney from riding a tidal wave of momentum. It would help if Giuliani or John McCain could keep Romney from winning New Hampshire, on the heels of winning Iowa.
"This is an atypical presidential election cycle. Winning Iowa and New Hampshire is not insignificant, but it is not as significant as in elections past," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, a Thompson supporter.
If Thompson can stay alive through Iowa and New Hampshire in early January, the only Southerner in the race is positioned to win South Carolina's primary on Jan. 15, then Florida on Jan. 29 and compete well among some two dozen states voting on Feb. 5.
"What we have to do as a campaign is figure out how to build a strategic bridge from the very early states to South Carolina, Florida and Feb. 5 states," said Thompson's national campaign manager Bill Lacy, who well remembers how in 1994 the pundits foolishly wrote off Thompson's prospects for winning the nomination for Al Gore's Senate seat.
Feb. 5 is shaping up as a virtual national primary day, and many observers note the big Giuliani-friendly states voting that day, such as new York, Connecticut and New Jersey (183 delegates combined). Overlooked are how many delegates will come from Thompson-friendly states like Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama (175 delegates combined).
If he wins the nomination, and he can, Hillary Clinton will probably find out what Hollywood already knows: The D.A. on Law & Order and admiral in Hunt for Red October can sell America reassuring power and competence as well as anybody.
The next couple months will be crucial for Thompson to capitalize on the lack of enthusiasm for the other Republicans. But forget all the skeptical pundits for awhile. Conventional wisdom doesn't necessarily apply in the first Republican primary in decades without a clear front-runner.
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