Posted on 08/21/2007 5:10:38 PM PDT by xcamel
More than a dozen years after it was credited with helping turn around his first bid for public office, Fred Thompson's old pickup truck sits parked behind his mother's house in this Nashville suburb.
The red paint is faded and the tailgate hangs open, but supporters would like nothing more than to see the actor-politician leap back into the bed to make stump speeches in his bid for the White House.
The Republican has not yet announced his candidacy _ that's expected next month _ and there's been no word from Thompson's campaign about whether there will be any role for a red pickup truck. A spokeswoman for Thompson did not respond to messages seeking comment about the truck.
Early in the 1994 race, after struggling to connect with voters, Thompson decided to lease a used truck and drive around the state in what turned out to be a wildly successful effort to recast himself as a folksy man of the people.
His opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, derided the truck as a cynical prop to deflect attention from Thompson's inside-the-Beltway status. But Thompson was able to shake off Cooper's suggestion that he was actually a "Gucci-wearing, Lincoln-driving, Perrier-drinking, Grey Poupon-spreading millionaireWashington special interest lobbyist."
Thompson ended up capturing more than 60 percent of the vote.
Bill Lacy, hired this month to run Thompson's campaign, has a bit of personal history with the truck _ he opposed the proposal to make the pickup a focal point when he was an adviser on the 1994 campaign.
"Fred had the good sense to ignore my advice," Lacy said in an opinion piece in The Knoxville News Sentinel in June.
But Thompson so far has not appeared overly eager to climb back into the cab. At his first public event in Nashville after forming a "testing the waters" committee in June, Thompson shook off an attempt by supporters tohave him address the crowd from the back of a brand new red pickup truck they had brought to the event.
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On the Net:
Fred Thompson: http://www.imwithfred.com
Nope. Wife didn’t like them, but hope to get one soon anyway.
I am frankly quite happy that he’s holding off on announcing his entry into the race. The campaign starts way too early and I’m already tired to death of it. Fred Thompson is forcing the MSM to play the game his way. I like the way he campaigns without being in the campaign!
As far as I’m concerned the MSM and the political powers that be are way too influential in deciding who will be elected. I like it when Fred goes against their conventional wisdom and drags it out. Everyone knows he’s in the race!
Personally, I would like to know how the MSM figured that Rudy should be the front runner. They were saying that before any polls came out or anything.
Freepmail me if you want some serious advice. But buy “Boston’s Gun Bible” first.
Seriously.
Welcome!
Advice about what? I’m not sure I’m seeing where you’re going and I’m trying to avoid misunderstandings since I’ve already been involved with one tonight. Is that too paranoid? LOL
Advice about that which you hope to get one soon.
It's a typical troll activity. Pull up a long ago registered FR name (usually one of many), and use it to have fun irritating Conservatives.
If you read back through this individual's posts on the tread, it is the typical troll pattern.
It starts out with "I like so and so, but ...", then goes through "I guess I don't have all the information I need, so could you folks enlighten me about ....", and finally to "I'm real sorry if I have offended anyone, it really wasn't my purpose, honest!"
If he isn't zapped by then, he will just go through the cycle again, only taking enough time out to report his efforts to his partners on some anti-FR forum.
Ignoring him, along with simply pointing out his trollish behavior to new thread readers who come onto the thread thinking he is playing for real, usually forces him out into the open, and causes him to go way over the line in his frustration, resulting in a loss of posting privileges.
Ummm, who’s the troll in this scenario?
When Reagan ran, the NH Primary was the first week of March. There's every indication that this time it will be moved up to December of 2007. Furthermore, Reagan had nearly won the nomination in '76, and so was already well known and vetted. It isn't 1980, Carter isn't in the WH, and Fred Thompson is no Ronald Reagan.
>>now you know why a lot of us hate...yes hate...Duncan Hunter people for ruining Free Republic.
This used to be a great site...you folks have ruined it forever. A lot of us have left. I have stopped supporting financially. Duncan Hunter is a loser politician who stayed in his “safe” Congressional seat for 30 years without accomplishing anything more. He will NEVER be MY President.
I’m kicking myself for being nice to you for so long.<<
Wow, where did that come from?
Congressman Hunter is a good guy - its natural that Freepers would be taking a look at him.
I don’t think he’s quite The Guy, though.
When I see Congressman Hunter, I think - “Secretary of Defense” rather than “Commander in Chief.”
But even if he’s not The Guy that doesn’t make Freepers who disagree into bad people.
>>When Reagan ran, the NH Primary was the first week of March. There’s every indication that this time it will be moved up to December of 2007. Furthermore, Reagan had nearly won the nomination in ‘76, and so was already well known and vetted. It isn’t 1980, Carter isn’t in the WH, and Fred Thompson is no Ronald Reagan.<<
Its not like Thompson is wasting this time - he’s shuffling his team, lining up big donors and getting face time in Iowa.
The NH Primary is most likely to get moved up by 8 weeks while Thompson is likely to announce 6 weeks earlier than a traditional November late entry, like President Reagan’s.
A 2 week narrower window isn’t a big deal if his team is already on the ground. If Thompson gets the nomination, does anybody think the Republican establishment will fail to fund him equally with the Democratic nominee? He’s fine.
>I will grant you one thing, you are right...Duncan Hunter has been in the House for 30 years and not achieved anything worthy of the White House 30 freakin’ YEARS!!!<
Wow! Now that’s what I call an out and out grossly misleading statement! (Rep. Hunter has been serving very effectively in Congress for 26, not 30, years.) And you said with such hostility!
The NH primary has been moved up at least twice since Reagan ran. November hasn't been "traditional" for years. Sept. declarations have been the last entries, and they were few and far between in the last three election cycles, with March through June more typical. Even Bush, running unopposed in 2004, announced in May, 2003.
I know that this has been the conventional wisdom talking point among the Fred Fans, but it just isn't true. I looked up the candidate entry dates for 2000 and 2004 a couple of weeks ago. Look here for 2000 and here for 2004.
>>The NH primary has been moved up at least twice since Reagan ran. November hasn’t been “traditional” for years. Sept. declarations have been the last entries, and they were few and far between in the last three election cycles, with March through June more typical.<<
And September is when he is likely to declare. Remember, he is only entering because the field is weak and the front runners are not conservative - that’s not the same as having planned this for 4 years.
I’d be willing to bet that every Presidential election since Nixon has had at least one candidate enter or almost enter and back out in September or after - but only Fred is getting nagged about it. (Last time it was Clark and Sharpton)
Oh well, if this is all people have bad to say about him then it could be worse.
For myself, I really need to hear more of where he stands - the day he declares is irrelevant to me.
A lot more, and what policies he intends to implement those positions.
That, and see how he stands up under the interrogation lights. It's a brutal and unfair process, but it gives a good indication of how well the person will do with a 4 year long anal probe.
I am thinking he has just about gone too long on his "declaration".....I am getting sick of hearing about him "going to" announce anyday now....
not hardly...
I will certainly back Rudy if he is the nominee, but I really worry that someone has dirt on him that hasn’t surfaced him yet and that dirt will be used against him the moment he becomes the nominee. At this point I’m pretty sure Hillary will be the Dem nominee. She will be defeat able if we can turn out the vote. She is disliked by so many in her own party that it seems to me she starts behind the curve.
It’s going to be an interesting, and very frustrating, campaign season.
LOS ANGELES - If Fred Thompson makes it official and throws his hat in the ring for President, NBC will pull future reruns of "Law & Order" featuring the actor after Sept. 1, executive producer Dick Wolf said yesterday.Wolf, reading from an official NBC statement yesterday, said the rule applies when a person legally qualifies as a candidate.
He will announce after Sep 1st, announcing before that would have not only been against FCC regs, but would have cut royalties for the rest of the cast of L&O.
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