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Freshman Rep. David Davis (R-Tenn.), who won a crowded Republican primary in 2006 with just 22 percent of the vote, is in a two-man race this year with one of his vanquished foes. Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe (R) finished fourth in 2006 with 17 percent of the vote, but has quietly become one of the few challengers in the country this year to out-raise an incumbent. He reported collecting $120,000 between January and March, compared to $80,000 for Davis, who still holds a 2-to-1 advantage in total cash. Better still, with the 2006 runner-up to Davis deciding against another...

Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said today he will challenge U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in this year’s Republican primary for the 7th Congressional District seat she has held since 2002. His entry gives Blackburn her first intra-party challenge since she won the congressional seat by defeating six opponents in the GOP primary of 2002, including three prominent Shelby County Republicans -- lawyer David Kustoff, state Sen. Mark Norris and Memphis City Council member Brent Taylor. “Yes, I’m in (the race),” Leatherwood told The Commercial Appeal today. “This is something that began to brew with me maybe a year or so...

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Republican Chairman Robin Smith says she stands by the state party's use of "Barack Hussein Obama" in party criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate - even though John McCain says it's inappropriate. McCain, holding a big lead in the Republican presidential race, Tuesday apologized for criticism of Obama by a radio talk show host who introduced McCain at a rally. Asked if it was proper to refer to Obama by using his middle name, the Associated Press reports that McCain replied: "No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama...

I ask the question because it isn't out of the question. They are good friends with a history. It would be a smart move on the Maverick's part to stilt up his lacking on conservative credentials. Could Thompson serve as the conservative concience? The ideological gravitas? Even...power behind the throne? How would the conservative base/blogosphere react? Serious thought from Scott Ott: Bring Fred Thompson on as vice president to serve as the Constitutional conscience of the administration -- an ideological gravitas behemoth -- who can do for President McCain what Dick Cheney has done for President Bush on foreign policy....

That's the name of a new anti-Huckabee web site started by former Thompson staffer Darrel Ng. Jonathan Martin has more on the site: Now that his candidate is out of the race, one Thompson staffer has gone the next stop and is actively working against Huck. Sorta. Darrel Ng, perhaps the heartiest and most dogged of Thompson's aides and somebody who logged many a mile on the Fred bus, has launched a website called "Boycott Chuck Norris." Yup, Ng now wants people to show their disregard for Huck by not patronizing any companies that use Norris as a pitchman. The...

A far as legal-brained firepower goes, the chief beneficiary of Fred Thompson’s decision to pull out of the presidential race is Mitt Romney. The Romney campaign Thursday announced that a host of conservative lawyers_and_scholars who were backing Thompson have joined the Romney camp. Among them is Victoria Toensing, who made her mark as an anti-terrorism_policy-maker at the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. Toensing is joined by her husband (and fellow regular on the cable news circuit) Joseph diGenova, the former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. To date, Romney’s conservative legal cabal has been notable for the presence of Catholic_scholars...

From: Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson < Gabrielle.Avedian> Date: Jan 21, 2008 1:51 PM Subject: URGENT: Email campaign for Fred! To: “Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson” < Gabrielle.Avedian> Hey all, First, I want to thank each and every one of you for the fantastic job of calling you’ve been doing to South Carolina all week. It has been a long, hard week and I know you have really sacrificed for this campaign. I truly appreciate all you’ve done and I know Fred and Jeri appreciate it also. BECAUSE OF YOU,...

Fred Thompson's political career might very well be over tomorrow. If so, take this post as a postmortem of his candidacy. It is obvious that Senator Thompson has squandered a great deal of good will during the interminable run up to the announcement of his candidacy and his less than stellar performance in the period September through mid-December. The easy analysis is that Thompson was lazy but I don't think it was laziness. I think it was a misguided attempt to run an issues oriented campaign. Thompson's Socratic style of addressing those early crowds was a good way to discuss...

As has been reported elsewhere today, Fred Thompson's mother is gravely ill right now. Our prayers ought to be with Sen. Thompson, his mother, his wife, and their family. This must be a very difficult time for them. All of this political stuff is of only secondary importance right now. That said, here is what I would do, politically, if I were Thompson: I would just lay low. Just wait. See what happens in Louisiana's caucuses tomorrow. See what happens in Florida next week. See who drops out of the race at some point. And then consider reviving my campaign,...

Fred on the Issues (from www.Fred08.com) National Security The first responsibility of government is to protect the American people, the homeland, and our way of life. Today we face the urgent threat of radical Islamic terrorists. Al Qaeda is committed to attacking us here at home, and wants to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to kill millions. We must never give them that opportunity. We must defeat the terrorists abroad, and that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan—the central fronts in this global war. We must show the world we have the will to fight and win. A weakened America...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

As we move on to South Carolina team Thompson is doing something a little different and fun. They are putting up a fun set of videos from their tour down there. They are getting video snapshots of folks who have flipped to Fred from other Candidates. Here is Riley, who flipped from Romney to Fred. Karen flips from Romney to Fred: Ann flips from Huckabee to Thompson: Jason goes from Romney to Fred: Well you get the idea. There is plenty more here. Meanwhile Fred layed the smackdown on the field on Fox News last night. So much so that...

Welcome to our Phone for Fred online phone bank! Person to person contact is the most effective way to make a difference in an election. We created the Phone for Fred program for all of you Friends of Fred who want to volunteer and do more for Fred! We need your help in the early primary states. Our Phone for Fred online phone bank makes it easy for you to make a difference! Fred only needs a small commitment of time and you will soon see that your phone calls and person to person contact will help Fred win!

"United States policy must continue to stand with the Cuban people and against those who have oppressed, terrorized, and murdered so many Cubans over the past half-century. This was my position when I served in the Senate; it is my position today; it will be my position as President. Fidel and Raul Castro are unaccountable dictators who can serve no role in Cuba’s future. We must continue supporting the growing internal opposition in Cuba while also denying the regime any source of funding that could prop up this cruel, illegitimate government. This means keeping current sanctions in place, and increasing...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

Fred Thompson has raised over $200,000 online since his boffo debate performance last night, says spokesman Todd Harris. For a candidate who is putting everything on South Carolina, the showing could not have come in a better place (Myrtle Beach) or on a better network (Fox) or at a more critical time (just over a week before the South Carolina primary). The debate got front-page previews in both the Charleston and Myrtle Beach papers yesterday, and many conservatives were already likely tuning in to their favorite station. The South Carolina papers had similarly prominent coverage of the debate this morning....

The long awaited endorsement from BackSpin is out: Fred Dalton Thompson. Every primary and caucus voter should watch Fred's message to Iowa voters: Rudy, Romney, and Huckabee all have their weaknesses, and their strengths, but the most important quality in a candidate is going to be the ability to communicate conservative principles. We as Republicans have to stop trying to win elections 'on the cheap.' For too many years, we have taken the lazy road to campaigning. We try to sell voters on tax cuts, because that's an easy sell, and then we try to offer all the candy that...

At 9:00 pm ET Fox News will broadcast the Republican Presidential debate from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As usual, I’ll be liveblogging it on the Fred File. Hope to see you then.

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decided in late September he would not run for president this year, Bob Walker went looking for another Republican he could support. He found Fred Thompson. "I'm interested in somebody who is seriously considering the issues not just as a political gimmick, but has real, long-term ideas in mind for fixing some very large problems we face immediately and down the road," Walker says. "I came to the conclusion that Fred Thompson was the guy in the race who had that kind of serious attitude," says Walker, a Lititz resident...

Marc Ambinder declares Fred the winner: On points, Fred Thompson won the debate. Every answer was thoughtful and well-crafted; his tone matched the tone of the question; he wisely refrained from interjecting in the back and forth squabbling. He very deftly reminded viewers that he served on key Senate national security panels and is bringing his experience to bear. Even his insults were subtly and gently constructed In some ways, Thompson did McCain’s bidding. You skeptical readers can tell me that if Thompson had finished a solid fourth in Iowa, I might not be writing about Thompson at all, that...

Apparently, small government Republicans [Huckabee’s] aides are wary of New Hampshire. “It’s all no tax, no government there,” said Bob Wickers, a top strategist. “It’s not ideal.” But they believe that the message of economic anxiety that he preaches will help in Michigan’s primary on Jan. 15 and in states in the South, which have high poverty rates in addition to strong groups of social conservatives.” Mike Huckabee is skipping New Hampshire because it’s too fiscally conservative. Instructive, yes? Huckabee’s brand of identity politics is as dangerous as anyone else’s - after nearly eight years of a fiscally liberal Republican...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is already attacking the politician who appears to be his chief rival in New Hampshire, Arizona Sen. John McCain. On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Romney attempted to spin the Iowa caucuses as a defeat for John McCain, lumping McCain with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as the big losers. "The Washington insiders are being rejected," Romney said. Romney placed a distant second to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. McCain and Fred Thompson were in a virtual tie for third. Romney continued to say that placing ahead of big-name candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and McCain in Iowa...

Ed Rollins is a nasty, nasty piece of work. Here he was tonight on Fox News: Rollins: The wise men like you who say Huckabee doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in heck - well, he can still go out and take his message to the people. And we’ve seen all the wisdom doesn’t live in Washington, and all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps.” Wallace: You can accuse me of a lot of things, but I would note we’ve had Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday several times— Rollins: —and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to take...

It looks like the Politico website has another fascinating scoop full of un-substantiated and un-named sources. That is that John McCain's campaign is literally hanging by a thread. He is low on money and fallen to a fourth place tie with Ron Paul in Iowa. Sources (unnamed) say that a McCain shellacking in Iowa will likely drop him out of the running in New Hampshire where is organization is running on fumes. In Iowa McCain has gone from 13% and high hopes of pulling a surprise to falling to 10% and a tie with a surging Ron Paul. UPDATE: ARG...

Johnny Dollar’s got the video of that irascible Ed Rollins shooting off his mouth. Nothing serious. Usually when Rollins shoots off his mouth he finds himself in the unemployment line or wounding the candidate he alleges to support with friendly fire. The Man Who Helped Reagan Win 49 States ™ indeed. Yea. Take “Reagan” out of that bio and what’s left of Vallejo’s finest? Ed Rollins - guiding the gay, yet somehow married to Arianna, Michael Huffington to Senate defeat? The mastermind behind billionaire Ross Perot’s Presidency? Claiming that he bribed black ministers to suppress the black vote to help...

Well, that's the rumor from Zogby polling. Musing on the Thompson campaign, there was an interesting post earlier this week by Paul Marks at Samizdata: "Fred Thompson: Too Sane to Be President?" Marks writes that the media equates a passion for campaigning with a passion for governing and serving one's country -- I'd note that "Campaign Carl" Cameron of Fox News has been particularly derisive of Thompson in this regard -- but that they're actually two different things. Marks: "But what sort of person is passionate about the political process? Not getting things done - but the process of gaining...

Ok, yeah I have small children. But that’s beside the point. I think Fred Thompson has a strong shot at 2nd place in Iowa. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high because it is more likely that he will finish 3rd. But if, as I am getting from the news coverage, this McCain, Huckabee, Romney food fight on the airwaves in Iowa is souring voters to those candidates, Fred Thompson could be the beneficiary of that sentiment. Going negative in Iowa has always carried risks and Iowa is the place where dark horses rise to the top....

In a last attempt to convince Iowa Republicans to vote for him this coming Thursday, Fred Thompson has put a video on YouTube in which he speaks to them for 17 minutes. In a last attempt to convince Iowa Republicans to vote for him this Thursday, former Senator Fred Thompson has put a video on YouTube in which he speaks to Iowans - and Americans as a whole - for more than 17 minutes. Instead of putting out a 30 second ad, Thompson decided to take voters seriously and to carefully to explain to them why he’s the man to...

This morning Fox and Friends concentrated on three candidates in relation the Iowa caucuses on Thursday night: the two lead candidates in the polls, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney - and John McCain... this was in spite of the fact that Senator McCain is not in Iowa (he is in New Hampshire) and that Fred Thompson is ahead of John McCain is most of Iowa polls. This is a part of pattern: last night Fred Thompson was on Fox News Sunday, but in the panel discussion, later in the show, the panellists ignored Fred Thompson. He is attacked by people,...

The man who America is not particularly interested in electing president doesn't really want the job, anyway. And while it's possible he's just playing hard-to-get, statements like this one the other day aren't helping: "I'm not particularly interested in running for president..." - Fred Thompson He defends his remark, saying it's out-of-context, but who would go into an interview and tell the employer that they hated the process that goes along with getting hired?

David Yepsen has a horrifically bad column in the Sunday Des Moines Register. In it, he distills each candidate down to the usual cliches of the leftist/"centrist" newspaper agenda: Mike Huckabee The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister has soared in the GOP race following his second-place finish in the Iowa Republican straw poll in August. He has rallied party social and religious conservatives as well as supporters of a big national sales tax to replace the income tax. He's a witty speaker and an affable politician whose criticisms of the nation's economic policies sound a lot like the populist...

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn, accused some of my colleagues of "journalistic malpractice" just now on Fox News Sunday. He's referring to coverage implying that Thompson said he's "not particularly interested in running for president," like this story. As our awesome ABC News off-air reporter with the Thompson campaign advised us last night, and as Jim Geraghty at National Review points out that may not be the fairest characterization of Thompson's complete remarks. The larger point Thompson seems to have been trying to make is that he's not interested in the process of running for president, but he wants to...

The new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities doesn’t change my view of that we need to restrain Iran. The NIE confirms that as recently as the fall of 2003, Iran was covertly working to develop nuclear weapons. Perhaps they have since halted their covert nuclear weapons work, but meanwhile they continue to aggressively pursue a uranium enrichment capability, despite the fact that it makes no economic sense as a civilian program. This program was begun secretly as part of their larger nuclear weapons program and could be converted to bomb-making in short order. The knowledge...

Fred Thompson has picked up endorsements from three state representatives - Kraig Paulsen of Cedar Rapids, Jeff Kaufmann of Wilton and Jamie Van Fossen of Davenport -- bringing his total to six. Mitt Romney still has a prohibitive lead with 16, followed by John McCain with eight. (Table at link)

Please post any information that Fred Thompson supporters would like to know here...

DES MOINES – Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) is making a big push with supporters to raise funds to go on the air with one more ad here before the Jan. 3 caucuses. In an email from supporters with a subject line “$109,789 and counting,” campaign manager Bill Lacy makes a plea with supporters to continue contributing online to get to the campaign’s target goal of $248,846. The email contains a link to the already-filmed ad that the campaign is set to run if it meets its fundraising goal. “If we can make a big enough buy, we have a...

HARRIS FAULKNER : Senator, your reaction, first, to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. FRED THOMPSON : It is a tragedy, of course. It reminds us that things can happen in faraway places of the world that can affect the United States. I think this should be of great concern to us. It is almost a perfect storm in a very bad sense because two forces are operating against each other that are both desirable. One is democracy: they were making progress in that regard in that country. Former prime minister Bhutto was an important part of that process. But the...

As Rush points out at the top of the excerpt, he does not endorse candidates in primaries. But that does not stop him from taking note of a fact that many Reagan Republicans are seeing Fred Thompson as the only true conservative in the field of Republican candidates. (VIDEO) With 13.5 million weekly listeners (some have suggested the number is closer to 20 million), Rush’s comments will not go unnoticed. Question is, is it enough to keep Fred in the race through?

Power Line hits us to a Reuters report that says illegal immigrants are going back to Mexico. A] growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States … are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip. *** There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board...

Nashville, Tenn. - This week, PETA sent a letter to all the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates--including Sen. Fred Thompson--explaining that a 10-cent-per-pound "sin" tax on meat could go a long way in protecting the environment, reducing health-care costs, and adding dollars to the U.S. Treasury. PETA points out that meat is the leading cause of global warming--according to a 2006 United Nations report, the meat industry emits 40 percent more global-warming gases than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, Hummers, airplanes, and ships in the world combined--and has been conclusively linked to serious illnesses, including heart disease, some types of...

Steve King (R-Iowa), in his endorsement of Fred08, reveals quite a bit about his presidential assessment techniques. The GOP lawmaker says the former Tennessee senator is the only candidate who epitomizes the full spectrum of conservative values. In the past few months Steve King (R-Iowa) has had the opportunity to meet personally with all but one of the GOP presidential hopefuls. He says he carefully evaluated each man on issues he considers important for the future destiny of the United States. "I probed them and tested them on the values that I think are important," King says. After the face-to-face...

Kraig Paulsen, the Iowa House Republican Whip is backing Fred Thompson for President. Paulsen represents Linn County - which is where my home town of Cedar Rapids is located. (Endorsement Video at link)

Mark Steyn’s review of the candidate’s Christmas campaign messages is a must-read today because it’s likely to be the funniest thing you’ll see all day. Here’s a taste: John Edwards’s message is the usual Dickensian affair about the two Americas. I forget the details, but the upshot is that one America is a land of spindly emaciated Tiny Tims with barely three farthings to rub together for their next cup of gruel, while the other’s a marshmallow world where Dick Cheney, high on wassail, shoots a brace of turducken out of season, and then chows down as the Radio City...

Somebody in the Huckabee camp made the mistake of insulting the leader of the conservative movement in the U.S., Rush Limbaugh. Rush responded on Friday's show and basically ripped the Huckabee camp a well-deserved new one. Whoever made the original comments clearly has not been paying attention. Some are questioning whether the Huckabee campaign can survive the shellacking it got on Friday's program. Huckabee is trying to stop the bleeding: SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The best-talking Republican politician in America has a message for the best-talking conservative voice in the country: Let's talk to one another. Mike Huckabee, taking questions...

Confederate Yankee catches Roger Simon of the Politico making a Fred Thompson visit to an Iowa firehouse sound like it went much worse than it did. Simon describes Thompson's "sour expression" on his face, and suggests that Thompson offended the firefighters when he mentioned his "silly hat" rule. CBS News - you know CBS News, that longtime friend of bloggers - offers video, that shows a lot of laughter and good spirits all around. Come on, man. Thompson apparently makes a reference to this botched story in his latest little video from the road: "Remember, we don't raise our hands...

After reading this question that was posed to Fred Thompson and his answer, I can't help but think it's a shame that he's not doing better in the campaign (h/t Instapundit): AKD: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County? FT: (laughs) AKD: You knew this was coming, right? FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president...

In this long election cycle, we may be learning as much about media bias as about the candidates. PJM’s Bob Owens has more on the questionable characterization of Fred Thompson by The Politico’s Roger Simon. Fire Chief Dan McKenzie cast more doubts on The Politico’s chief political correspondent Roger Simon’s version of events at McKenzie’s Waverly, Iowa fire station in Simon’s article “Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged.” Questions had been raised about Simon’s article based on a video of Thompson’s appearance, which seemed to show the candidate behaving in a radically different manner from the one described by The Politico...

Tom Tancredo may have gotten behind Mitt Romney yesterday, but the Tanc's top guy on the ground in Iowa will help out Fred. A retired Marine and active farmer, Bill Salier had served as Tancredo's Iowa state chair. He's a true believing social conservative who ran an uphill race in the '02 GOP Senate primrary that raised some eyebrows. In short: he's the sort of worker bee a campaign likes to have on its side. If Salier puts his shoulder to the wheel for Fred, he could be a major asset. M.E. Sprengelmeyer of the Rocky did a great profile...

Almost as I'd thought. The endorsement of Rep. King has begun having an impact in the Iowa poll numbers and the Thompson campaign is on the move according to this latest Strategic Vision poll. - Huckabee -31% - Romney - 25% - Thompson - 16% The anomaly in this poll right now is Huckabee (another post on that later) who when this poll was taken was at 31%. I have not heard the entire show, however the internet is abuzz with Rush's cremation of Huckabee (and for good reason...again more on that later). Huckabee's numbers are going to plummet down...

Yesterday the news was full of a new poll showing Mitt Romney coming from nowhere to tie Rudy Giuliani for first place among Republicans nationally. The surprising NBC/Wall Street Journal poll,conducted between Dec. 14 and Dec. 16, showed Romney and Giuliani with 20% each, Huckabee with 17%, and the resurgent John McCain with 14%. Combine that with an Insider Advantage poll taken on Dec. 16 and Dec 17 showing Romney recapturing the lead in Iowa,with 28% to Huckabee's 25, and a Rasmussen Poll taken on Dec. 17, showing Huckabee's Iowa lead over Romney cut to only one per cent, and...