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Posted on 11/22/2007 11:54:39 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
COLUMBIA, S.C. - When Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson walks down the aisles of a gun show Saturday in Charleston, the game he's hunting won't be hard to spot.
The former senator and actor is looking to differentiate himself from rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney - and use his appeal as a "country boy from Tennessee" who knows NASCAR and hunting to portray the city slickers as out of step with this early voting state's residents.
There is little doubt gun rights are a tough issue for the front of the GOP pack.
Former New York Mayor Giuliani has supported federal handgun owner registration and advocated that handgun buyers "demonstrate good moral character and a reason to have the gun." It's a contrast to his more recent call for state-by-state gun controls.
As Massachusetts' governor, Romney signed one of the nation's toughest laws against assault-style weapons. And one of his earliest campaign stumbles came when he was described as a lifelong hunter. It turned out he never held a hunting license. Romney later said he had hunted small game numerous times.
A spokesman for Thompson said the former Tennessee senator should be the choice for people who think gun rights are important.
"Gun owners would know they're with one of their own in the White House if he gets elected," said spokesman Jeff Sadosky, who said he did not know how frequently Thompson handled guns either hunting or otherwise.
But not all gun supporters are totally enamored by Thompson. The Gun Owners of America criticizes him for missing the mark while in the Senate.
In the 33 votes it counts, the group said Thompson was on the wrong side of gun rights, including supporting laws allowing minor offenses to cost people the right to own a gun and supporting campaign finance law changes that crimped the group's ability to get involved in elections.
"Fred Thompson has been there about two-thirds of the time. When you put that in a letter-grade form, that comes out to around a 'D' - and that's not very impressive," Gun Owners of America spokesman Erich Pratt said.
The group does give Thompson credit for protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits and supporting legislation affecting private gun sales at gun shows, Pratt said.
Thompson isn't the only presidential candidate seeking out South Carolina sportsmen and sports fans. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is visiting the state fresh off a poll that has him among the front-runners in Iowa. Polls in South Carolina have Huckabee well off the pace, but also show a number of undecided voters.
Huckabee will tailgate Saturday with World Wrestling Entertainment star Ric Flair before the Clemson plays South Carolina in the biggest football game of the year in the state. The Arkansas governor will then make a number of stops Sunday, ending at a skeet shoot in Spartanburg.
Both the NRA and Gun Owners of America expect gun rights to become an even bigger issue in the 2008 elections after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a case that could determine whether a gun ban in Washington, D.C., is legal.
NRA chief lobbyist Chris Cox warns candidates they can't try to fool gun owners, recalling Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry donning hunting gear as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 when his voting record wasn't as staunchly pro-gun as some wanted.
"Thirty minutes in a goose pit 16 days before an election wasn't going to make up for 20 years of stabbing gun owners in the back," Cox said. "Some of us wear camouflage not to be seen and other wear camouflage to be seen."
No. The top three I was talking about, and the only ones with a snowballs chance in hell of winning the nomination.
Fred, Rooty, and Romney. Only Fred is pro gun and always has been.
Of all those running on the Republican side that I would say are firmly and dependably pro gun....
Hunter, Fred, Huck, Tanc.
Even Paul has some Really oddball gun votes that were real anti gun votes, not BS from the GOA.
McCain can’t be trusted and Rooty and Mutt are barking moonbat rabid anti gun.
Of the pro gun candidates only one is electable and has a good shot at the nomination.
Jan. 3 -- Iowa
Jan. 5 -- Wyoming
Jan. 8 -- New Hampshire
Jan. 15 -- Michigan
Jan. 19 -- Nevada / South Carolina
Jan. 29 -- Florida
Feb. 5 -- Alabama Primary
Alaska District Conventions
Arkansas Primary
California Primary
Colorado Precinct Caucuses
Connecticut Primary
Georgia Primary
Illinois Primary
Montana Caucus
Minnesota Precinct Caucuses / non-binding straw poll
New Jersey Primary
New York Primary
Oklahoma Primary
Tennessee Primary
Utah Primary
West Virginia State Presidential Convention
Feb. 5 -- Tentative schedule
Delaware Party-run Primary
Missouri Primary
North Dakota Caucus
Arizona Primary
ClickThe way the cycle is stacked this time I don't see much chance of a low tier candidate moving up as there isn't time for money to influx his campaign much less the time needed to set up state organizations and buy ads. So it may well be a three person race as predicted in the national polls but not a guarantee.
You are correct. It will be over, for all practical purposes, on Feb 6 the nominee will likely have a lock.
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I doubt there will be many campaign ads during the SB but they could run some before the game.
Still, I am hopeful for an NRA endorsement for Fred and, if they are going to do it, it can’t come too soon.
Whatever happened to the talk that Senator Graham would have a serious intraparty rival in 2008. Sounds like it must have been cheap talk after all
Yea, once somebody gets 400 delegats or so, he cannot usually be stopped as the sheeple merely ratify what has already transpired.
Do NRA people even know who the group has endorsed? Most of them are hunting at this time of the year.
It may be that Huckeabee is not a socialist except within AR. He thinks Arkansans have the right to tax themselves till it hurts to pay for popular “social programs”. As president, he would not necessarily be
proposing such programs for the nation as a whole. He could say, “Leave it to the states, as we did in AR.” His open borders position though is one of the worst of any GOP contenders this time. It’s pretty much the standard GWB line.
Saturday, November 24
Ladson, SC
The Land of the Sky Gun Show
Exchange Park Fairgrounds
9850 Highway 78
WHEN: 10:45 am EST
Summerville, SC 29483
Sticky Fingers Rib House
1200 North Main Street
WHEN: 12:30 pm EST
Charleston, SC
Jeri and the Thompson Children to Meet Moms at Children's Museum Children's Museum of the Lowcountry at 10:30 AM
And you'll be helping them do it by staying home.
What would you have me do? If the Republicans reject all of the pro-gun candidates, then they have decided that my vote is unneeded. If they are not the pro-gun party, then they are not my party.
Perhaps if there is a third party candidate who is pro-gun, I will vote. But it shouldn't be necessary.
What will be accomplished for my gun rights by voting for Julie-Annie? His claim to understand and support the Second Amendment is absolutely unbelievable. Do you believe him?
Arnold is the REPUBLICAN governor of Kalifornia. He recently signed legislation to further infringe the right to keep and bear arms by mandating technology which most manufacturers will probably not comply with, thereby eliminating many handguns from sale in Kalifornia.
In addition, Arnold is supporting practically every stupid liberal proposal to come out of the legislature. He was recently out of the country, I think, touting his tremendous progress on leading the world in limiting greenhouse gases.
Fortunately, I didn't vote for Arnold, even when other Republicans were so concerned that "he can win". We won nothing. We have lost any meaning for being a Republican governor in Kalifornia.
Electing July-Annie or any other gun-grabber to the Presidency will just do the same thing. In four years, you won't be able to tell the difference from our having elected a Demoncrat.
If YOU support anti-gun Republicans, then what do you expect will happen to you? The same is true of supporting Republicans who don't recognize the proper Constitutional limits to the power of the federal government.
If YOU continue voting for such people, then YOU will get the expected result. It's not my doing.
Bush met the standard when he did nothing to advance a renewal of the federal Assault Weapons Ban. He has since appointed Roberts and Alito, which makes me optimistic that there has been progress. His Attorney General put it on record that the Second Amendment is an individual right.
I see no hope that Julie-Annie will do anything near that.
Well, 8 years of that horn dog and his harridan wife brought us nothing but grief including with the World Trade Center Bombing in 1993, the debacle in Mogadishu, the bombing of the Khobar Towers and then the bombing of the Cole in Yemen. He was a feckless, spineless, individual who put this country in danger. It was during his Presidency, after Mogadishu, that Osama bin Laden made the calculation that he could attack us with impunity. It was unfortunate for al Queda that George W. Bush was sitting in the White House when the attack finally came.
The situation is different in a major way this time. We ARE in a war, and one that is not supported in any way by the harridan. I shudder to think what would happen if SHE were in charge of foreign policy in general and our military in particular. Though Giuliani is NOT my favorite, I actually support Fred Thompson, Giuliani will do a LOT less harm than that woman in every way. I am pro-life and he is pro-abortion, but she is even MORE pro-abortion, and with Rudy, we'd have at least some chance of getting some more strict constructionist judges on the Supremes with Rudy. If that woman is in charge of the next two or three appointments, we WILL lose all the gains we've made in the last few years.
Now some are wedded to the idea that they could NEVER vote for anyone who is NOT pro-life, but I look at it in the Hippocrates manner; first, do no harm. If there is a pro-life candidate running, I WILL vote for that person, but if the choice is between two candidates who are BOTH pro-abortion, I look at the party behind them. I know that the majority of the Republicans are pro-life, and that the Democrats are rabidly pro-abortion. I'll take a pro-abortion Republican over a pro-abortion Democrat ANY day, if those are the only choices I'm given.
Staying home in a snit is NOT a option for me, because, by doing so, I'd only be allowing the pro-abortion party to have the full sweep of power in the government, and that doesn't help babies at all.
I won't be screwed again. Giuliani hasn't had a change of heart -or- an intellectual realization that changed his views on various issues. Reagan had an intellectual realization.
I support the 2nd amendment. I don't own right now because to enjoy what I want means driving way north of Antelope Valley close to Mohave. And a few miles away from the 14 FWY. I like very long range shooting. What I want costs >$16K with a rangefinder, wind gauge and a laptop with the program that tells you how far off the target to aim. It works for somebody I knew. 2 people are needed.
I'll buy you a Happy Meal if either one of them are nominated:) 2 if they both are:):)
AT LAW
Second Amendment Showdown
The Supreme Court has a historic opportunity to affirm the individual right to keep and bear arms.
“....This comports with my own personal experience. In almost 14 years as prosecutor and as head of the Homicide Unit of the Wayne County (Detroit) Prosecutor’s Office, I never saw anyone charged with murder who had a license to legally carry a concealed weapon. Most people who want to possess guns are law-abiding and present no threat to others. Rather than the availability of weapons, my experience is that gun violence is driven by culture, police presence (or lack of same), and failures in the supervision of parolees and probationers....”
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html
The “minor offenses” mentioned, were domestic-violence related.. you know.. wife-beating? Not all states regard this as a felony like we do here in CA, where you lose your gun rights anyway.
I agree. I think that electing Arnold has destroyed any chance of Republicans accomplishing anything in Kalifornia. The "best" solution is still the one which existed before Gray Davis was recalled; bankruptcy.
The RINOs got very lucky when the economy boomed and made it appear that suddenly life was different. In fact, state spending has continued unchecked and the debt will soon rival New Jersey's $38 billion. It's going to get VERY much worse than it would have been before it starts getting better.
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