Free Republic

The 2012 presidential election may be 29 months away, but the potential players are stalking each other like chess grandmasters. Tonight's round of gubernatorial and Senate primaries could provide early indicators of who is most shrewdly mobilizing their pieces into position. Three states with big races on Tuesday represent potential game-changers in 2012. Iowa and South Carolina occupy key early positions in the presidential-primary calendar, while California boasts a mother lode of winner-take-all delegates. For presumed hopefuls like Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee, the calculation is simple. Endorse a statewide candidate who wins (both tonight and in November's...

Fred Thompson on Meet the Press, 11/4/07.

By Kleinheider November 1st, 2007 - 8:13 am Steve Gill pens a column this morning counseling Fred Thompson to hit the immigration issue hard — especially Hillary Clinton’s rambling answer in Tuesday night’s Democratic debate regarding drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. An answer she has now retracted. Steve Gill on Fred’s immigration opportunity: Thompson has the opportunity to pounce on the issue and make it his, which would give him an advantage in both the Republican Primary as well as the general election. Granted, Thompson’s personality and style do not fit well with the image of a quick, cat-like “pounce.”...

Dateline: NASHVILLE U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson says he seldom hears about abortion in campaign travels throughout Tennessee and hopes the issue is downplayed at the Republican National Convention. The Tennessee Republican, an abortion-rights defender in a party with an anti-abortion tilt, is preparing for next week's convention in San Diego . He said the party must avoid distracting issues and focus on electing Bob Dole as president. ''We need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us,'' Thompson said in an interview with The Tennessean published Tuesday. Thompson said he opposes making early-term abortions a crime,...

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on why he is running for President. He was speaking to the Des Moines Register Editorial Board.