Posted on 01/21/2008 2:14:55 AM PST by trumandogz
While other Republican presidential candidates turned their focus to Florida on Sunday, Fred Thompson turned his attention to his ailing mother and his ailing campaign.
Thompson’s run for the White House may have hit a wall after suffering a stinging setback Saturday in South Carolina, where Thompson had essentially moved his entire operation and needed a strong finish, which he did not get.
The South’s first primary saw the former Tennessee senator finish a distant third to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, respectively.
After the loss, Thompson’s speech to his supporters left the impression that the once-looked-upon candidate to unite the Republican Party would be bowing out of the presidential race.
“I’m not sure there’s any real rationale to stay in because it hasn’t happened,” said Steve Gill, a conservative talk show host who penned a book on Thompson’s candidacy, adding that Thompson “got too far behind and dug too deep a hole” to save what once was a promising candidacy.
Gill on Sunday said Thompson’s campaign is “pretty much done,” noting that the campaign was not aggressively refuting speculation that he was dropping out.
A call to Thompson’s campaign headquarters went unanswered. A spokeswoman did not return a call on her cell phone.
Bruce Oppenheimer, a Vanderbilt University political science professor, said yesterday that the “only real purpose” of Thompson’s candidacy at this point was helping McCain, a close ally of his while the two served in the Senate.
Oppenheimer said it’s “hard to see” where Thompson can break into the upper-tier and do well on “Super Tuesday” besides his home state of Tennessee.
“I don’t know if it’s the end for him, but this is a campaign that’s on life support and it’s a real question about whether the patient can breath on his own,” Oppenheimer said.
Thompson’s strategy in South Carolina partly centered on going after Huckabee aggressively. But Thompson failed to sway nearly enough South Carolinians to dent the other southern conservative in the race.
Huckabee received more than 125,000 votes, nearly doubling Thompson’s 66,580.
Juan Williams, a National Public Radio and Fox News political analyst, said Huckabee is the southern conservative who has “some chance of going forward.”
Not so for Thompson, Williams said, noting that he did not travel immediately to Florida, which is the site of the next Republican primary.
“I think he was retreating,” Williams said Sunday morning on Fox News. “And you know, happy trails.”
Instead of heading to Florida, Thompson visited his mother in the hospital, according to media reports. She has been battling pneumonia.
If Thompson were to drop out of the race, his name would still be on the ballot when Tennessee has its presidential primary elections Feb. 5. Early voting has already begun.
A Thompson exit could spur Republican candidates who were previously willing to concede the Volunteer State to make an effort to win here.
Gill said if Thompson does indeed intend to drop out, he should do so immediately to give other GOP presidential candidates time to spread their message in Tennessee.
“If he stays in, all he does is deny Tennessee voters the chance to really have their voices heard,” Gill said.
In the South Carolina speech on Saturday, Thompson often spoke in the past tense and thanked his supporters repeatedly and ended his speech by encouraging them to “stand strong” for their conservative beliefs.
“My friends, we will always be bound by a close bond because we have traveled a very special road together for a very special purpose,” Thompson said.
I’m from NH originally, and I had only heard that it was corruption (presumably for that tight circle of ‘cronies’) that brought Benson down. Is this not so?
Rudy only gets a free pass for now because he has said that FL is his line in the sand, not SC. I promise the heat on Rudy will be very intense if he loses FL.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
‘lets all UNITE AROUND MIT....”
Stick it. It’s time the Dems put their label of their own crap and not under some squishy GOP hack.
Jimbo honey, why are you dragging me into your pi$$ing contest with LLL? I was only pointing out that the base sat back in 2006 as a warning to the RNC and they did not listen. I will vote in my primary for who I believe represents MY core beliefs and if that guy ain’t on the ballot in November, I will hold my nose and vote for the Republican because I WON’T waste my vote on a Democrat.
Um, no...
Sorry, LLS dragged you in by misquoting me in a reply to you.
I won't ping you again.
The corruption thing was overblown by the media. The real reason he lost is that the people who knew it was overblown didn't rally around him because he treated those supporters like crap. It wasn't even necessary to rally around him, even. He pissed off Republicans in the legislature and pissed off his supporters that do the campaigning legwork, because of who knows why-- self-destructive streak, incompetence, whatever.
He went from winning in a landslide (the race was called practically in record time) to losing in a landslide. You don't get a big swing like that unless the governor is actually the corrupt person or the foundation of his political operation crashes and burns, and the latter is what happened.
Then again, letting the other candidates burn out & drop out first might be a good idea. Huckabee running out of cash, McCain wins SC but likely nowhere else, likewise others ... After all the flash and wow wears down, a solid no-games no-fluff conservative emerges and wins.
The primary season started too early. Maybe Fred realized that, and is spinning it to his advantage.
And yes, an ailing mother is a good reason to not race on to the next campaign stop to thrill people who are already going to vote for him.
Go here for the red pickup:
https://www.fred08.com/Contribute.aspx?CampaignID=redpickup
I just made my 3rd donation and am looking forward to voting for Fred next week here in Florida.
Then perhaps you should stop speaking for them.
You really should read my post before you start calling names.
But tell me what the difference is between, say, McCain's approach to tax policy and Clinton's? Or Huck's populist attitude about business and Obama's?
I'm not looking for Reagan. Just a conservative. And there is one running, who you apparently don't like for some reason. No fire in the belly? Old looking? I can only speculate.
Prayers for FRed’s mom.
**Is this the end of Fred’s run?**
NONONONONONONONONONONO!
I wish the media would get the message.
But then I must remember that the lamestream media has lamestream minds! <sarcasm/
Governor Romney has done nothing in the past and has said nothing in this campaign to earn him my vote. A northeastern ‘moderate’ who plays ‘go-along-to-get-along’ is not my idea of a leader.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are a nation at war, whether you want to hear that or not. The islamo-fascists declared war on us a generation ago, and they have been attacking us directly and indirectly since then.
If we need a businessman with a great resume it is as Secretary of the Treasury, or Chairman of the Fed, not necessarily in the oval office. I want someone sitting in that chair in whom I have the confidence that they understand the threats around us, and whom I believe has the ‘gumption’ to stare down the barrel of the gun and not blink.
Governor Romney has a history of blinking, and that scares me.
He says he is the family values candidate yet his stated goal on RTL was the status quo - not leadership.
He says he is the family values candidate yet he thinks its ok if judges want to force the Boy Scouts to allow homosexual leaders.
He says he is ready to face the tough decisions on national security but his resume on that issue is blank.
He says he will end santuary cities, yet for his time in the MA Governor’s Mansion he allowed 4 santuary cities inside his own borders to go unchecked and unpunished.
Someone show me where he has stood up and faced down a serious challenge. When has he toed the line with conservatism and his own conscience? When has he refused to blink because right was right and wrong was wrong, polls be damned?
NO, more of a patriot....
well who you backin?
1992 and 1996 were pretty dreadful.
If you say so...
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