Fredipedia v2.26: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 05/02/2007 6:44:00 PM PDT by Politicalmom
Fred Thompson threw away the script when he ran for the Senate; he may do it again trying for the White House
by Frank Cagle
It was a scorching summer day in 1993 at the Sevier County fairgrounds. I was standing around with four other political junkies with nothing better to do and we were laughing about Congressman Don Sundquist's ardent pursuit of the goodwill of Congressman Jimmy Quillen.
Quillen, the boss of the heavily Republican First District, had torpedoed the candidacy of Winfield Dunn, the last serious Republican candidate for governor. Quillen was playing hard-to-get that summer with his back bench colleague, Sundquist, who would be running for governor in 1994.
Quillen and Sundquist were inside a big tent and the crowd was whooping it up, in anticipation of capturing the governor's office after eight years of Democratic Gov. Ned McWherter.
We looked over the fairgrounds to see a tall fellow we recognized from the movies wandering around like he was lost. He evidently didn't get the memo about it being a casual event. He had left his suit coat and tie in the car and had rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. He wandered up, sweating like a pig.
I was then the assistant managing editor of the News Sentinel. Lloyd Daugherty was and is chair of the Tennessee Conservative Union. Kelvin Moxley was the editor of a conservative student newspaper at the University of Tennessee. Mike Alder ran campaigns for legislative candidates and was a some-time lobbyist. Frank Niceley was a former and future Republican legislator.
Fred Thompson, on his first campaign appearance in East Tennessee, assumed (not incorrectly) we were a group of local rednecks. We surrounded him like a bear in a ring and started peppering him with questions. The death penalty. Abortion. Taxes. Gun Control. To each question Thompson replied with a long, carefully guarded lawyerly answer. He took our abuse good-naturedly for a while until he figured out the action was in the big tent. He excused himself and went inside.
As I recall it was our consensus opinion that Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper, a pretty good conservative, would eat this guy alive in the upcoming Senate race. Thompson's answers sounded like Belle Meade cocktail party chit-chat, rambling and evasive and politically correct. We were naturally suspicious of him anyway; he was U.S. Sen. Howard Baker's protégé. You know Baker—the guy conservatives say enabled Jimmy Carter to give away the Panama Canal. The Tennessee Conservative Union has a reputation as an anti-income tax group, but the organization was originally formed to fight the Panama Canal decision.
The myth has arisen that Thompson has never had a hard political race. At the beginning of the 1994 Senate campaign he was down 20 points to Cooper, and East Tennessee conservatives were just not that impressed. Tennessee had had two Democratic senators in Al Gore and Jim Sasser; it appeared that would not change. What people remember at the end of the campaign is that Thompson led the ticket, won with 61 percent of the vote. The TCU endorsed him. Moxley would go on to join his Senate staff. We would all become solid Thompson supporters. But it didn't happen overnight.
Over the fall and winter I was to see Thompson often at various Lincoln Day Dinners in the surrounding counties. These annual party fundraisers get good attendance in a gubernatorial election year—you could sense 1994 would be a good year for Republicans and they were excited about it. At the first of these events it was obvious the crowds were there to see Sundquist, the party's hope to regain the governor's office and control of patronage. They would usually seat Thompson down on the end of the dais, and he usually got to speak last. Sundquist and the local congressman would get first dibs. His speeches were OK, but not spellbinding. They tended to be a little too abstract, too much from his background as a Senate staffer, a federal prosecutor and an attorney. But he got better as he went along. His problem was his attitude. He generally looked miserable and had the air of a man who wondered why he was there.
After the Knox County event at which Newt Gingrich had fired up the crowd with his Contract with America, Thompson and some of the locals repaired to the hotel bar to get something to drink that would kill the taste of rubber chicken . It was obvious Thompson was uncomfortable in his new role. He couldn't find his rhythm. He had been watching Sundquist and Quillen and Congressman Jimmy Duncan, who had had years of party banquets behind them and could deliver a banal homily at the drop of a hat. It just wasn't Thompson's style.
Thompson had entered the race as a conventional candidate, doing what conventional candidates do, and he hated it. He also wasn't making any progress in catching Cooper.
Somewhere in the course of the conversation Thompson became “Fred” and it got down to candid talk. Someone at the table offered the opinion that people didn't really want those long-winded answers. They just wanted to know one thing: “Are you one of us, or are you one of them?” Thompson threw back his head and laughed at that.
He reminisced about his first job out of high school, the night shift at the Maury Bicycle plant in his home town of Lawrenceburg. Lawrenceburg is a typical small town in Tennessee, a backwater too far from an interstate. Despite the growth in Middle Tennessee in recent years the town still numbers about 10,000 people. It didn't take Thompson long at the bike plant to decide to go to the University of Memphis and Vanderbilt Law School and get on with a career.
As the campaign wore on that spring and summer Thompson seemed to begin to remember that bike plant and the people he worked with and grew up with. He began to set aside the lawyer and Senate staffer persona he had taken on over the years. His speeches became shorter. More to the point. He started to connect with people.
I think the turning point came at Mule Day in Columbia, in the spring of 1994. He put on jeans and boots and got on a horse and rode in the parade. He was a huge success; the crowd went wild. He kept the cowboy boots, and often, the jeans. He famously mounted up in a red pickup truck and toured around the state. The stuffy lawyer disappeared. Instead there as an assured public persona that connected with people on a very personal level.
Given Thompson's movie roles and his role on the current television series Law & Order , his critics might say he was just an actor who finally got into the good old boy role. His friends would point out—he ain't that great an actor.
Lamar Alexander wore a plaid shirt and walked across Tennessee, but no one ever confused him with a good old boy.
The red truck has been derided as a gimmick since Thompson had spent his adult life as a Washington lobbyist and an attorney. The Cooper campaign suggested a limo was more his style. But if the truck had not been authentic it would have been about as successful as Michael Dukakis in a tank—the photo op that came to symbolize a losing 1988 presidential campaign. Fred fit in the truck. Dukakis didn't fit in the tank.
At another political event in early summer 1994 I noticed that the crowds that used to come to cheer on Sundquist were still enthusiastic for him, but the crowds went nuts for “Fred.” He was now the focus of political gatherings, and he got mobbed afterwards.
Major Garrett is now a reporter for the Fox cable news channel. In 1994 he was a political reporter for the Washington Times . He came down and followed Fred on a tour of East Tennessee. After a hard day of campaigning we were sitting on the front porch and I asked him what he thought.
He described an incident from that afternoon. They stopped at a convenience store in Sevier County. They left the red truck in the parking lot; there was no one else there. They got soft drinks and Fred spent some time talking to the store clerk. When they came outside, cars and trucks were pulling into the parking lot and people were gathered around the truck. Fred pulled the tail gate down, got up and gave a short speech, and everyone hooted and hollered.
Garrett said he had covered political campaigns all over the country that summer and the usual problem for politicians was trying to find a crowd and jump in front of it. He was amazed that Fred could conjure one up in an empty parking lot in rural Sevier County.
It was that rock-star quality that led Thompson to win the Senate seat. As a quote from a book about that election had it: “People in Tennessee liked Jim Cooper. But they loved Fred.”
The lawyer we had dismissed the previous summer as hopeless had become a natural. His frustrations with the conventions of political campaigning led him to just cast them aside and do it his way. The question now becomes whether he can cast aside the traditional method of running for president and invent his own way of doing it. The probability now is that Thompson will enter the presidential race, possibly by next month. It is not likely Thompson would put Baker, Bill Frist, Zach Wamp, Jimmy Duncan and Beth Harwell out there on a limb heading a Draft Fred movement were he not serious about running.
So what has changed to bring him back, not only into politics but also into the biggest political race possible?
In 1996 and in 2000 Thompson's fellow Tennessean Lamar Alexander was running for president. Until very recently fellow Tennessean Bill Frist was an all but declared candidate. Thompson has the same base, the same political supporters and the same financial network. His path to running for president has been blocked since he entered public life. That's not true any more.
But the key to Thompson's hesitation may lie elsewhere: It's what presidential candidates have traditionally had to do to get elected. You go hat in hand and you beg money from people who have had enough success in life to give them a sense of entitlement. If you've had the ability to make millions selling plumbing fixtures, shouldn't you have some input on the next Secretary of State?
It is this sort of system that produces a George Bush as a presidential candidate. I had a conversation with a rich young man, more thoughtful than most, who has had some success in politics. He had been in one of those rooms with Bush, everyone there just like him, just like Bush. He wondered if Bush ever met anyone other than the people just like him—wealthy, confident and privileged. Is this a system that produces a president that has any idea how most of the people in America live?
The worst time running for president is in the early months, going door to door like a condo salesman, asking the guys with check books to invest in your campaign. Mitt Romney is great at it. Thompson hates it. His strategy may be to come in in the middle of this campaign, capitalize on the discomfort Republicans have with the field and gamble on good poll numbers to create excitement. If that happens, the money will come.
But what are the odds it can happen? Romney raised $23 million during the first quarter of 2007. But Thompson just announced he was considering a run for president and his poll numbers jumped Romney to put him in third place behind John McCain and Rudy Giuliani—with no announcement, no organization and no campaign.
The internet and the power of average people to raise huge sums for candidates has been demonstrated, by Howard Dean in 2004 and by Barack Obama this last quarter. Thompson may finally be able to see how he can get there with small contributors and build a grassroots organization without the inevitable compromises that big money campaigns dictate. Go to Google and type in “Draft Fred.”
Conservatives have rightly criticized McCain's campaign finance reform, and they criticize Thompson for being McCain's friend and supporting it as well. The support seems puzzling unless you understand Thompson. The boy from Lawrenceburg has made it this far on his ability. He sees the money-raising machine that is modern American politics and it makes him mad. He sees McCain's bill as an attempt to change things.
Can Thompson win? Since 1976 four out of five presidents have been from the South: Georgia, Arkansas and Texas. Can he win the Republican nomination, with primaries dominated by conservatives?
If Thompson can convince anti-Baker Tennessee conservatives of his conservative credentials, he shouldn't have any trouble with national conservative groups. The Tennessee Conservative Union, for example, has spent a lot of time in New Hampshire during presidential primaries campaigning. Campaigning against Tennessee candidates like Howard Baker and Lamar Alexander. Should they go to New Hampshire this presidential season they will be campaigning for Thompson.
National conservative groups gave Thompson high marks during his Senate career, giving him better credentials in Republican primaries than McCain or Giuliani. Business groups gave him 90 to 100 point ratings, the Christian Coalition gave him a 92, the American Conservative Union gave him an 85. The National Taxpayers Union gave him an A rating. The NRA, which has problems with Giuliani, McCain and Romney, has consistently supported Thompson.
Thompson's only black marks with conservatives have been support for McCain's campaign reform bill and his refusal to sign on to the Chamber of Commerce's campaign for “tort reform.” Thompson is an attorney and he refuses to support efforts to limit the ability of poor people to seek legal remedies through class action lawsuits and contingency fee lawyers. But “tort reform” is more of an issue for big business and the Wall Street Journal editorial page than movement conservatives.
Fred Thompson's campaign in Tennessee demonstrated that he does not consider conventional campaigning as a strait-jacket from which he cannot escape. If he chooses to run for president he will do it on his own terms. It is a risky strategy. If he fails he can expect the political establishment to pillory him for his deviation from orthodoxy. The “Fred is lazy” tag will come back. He may lose the nomination. But nine out of 10 of the current GOP candidates, running conventional campaigns, will lose as well.
The problem with our politics is that the people who can get elected president are the people we wouldn't want as president. If there is anybody who can upset the status quo, create a new dynamic and overcome the process it would be Fred Dalton Thompson.
Fredipedia v2.26: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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The conventions of political campaigning have led us to Bush/Dukais, Bush/Clinton, Clinton/Dole, Gore/Bush, Bush/Kerry.
I think Americans want someone who will give them the straight talk they have not had since the Gipper.
Fred's column contrasting the absurd concern about global warming to the utter lack of concern about entitlement reform shows he ain't afraid to broach the subjects that we need to be discusssing. NOW. And he has the ability to make the proper contrasts.
BUMP!!
I actually teared up at one point.
As soon as Fred announces, the money is going to pour in - in staggering amounts. Mr. Inspectorette and I have our checkbook at the ready.
“He doesn’t have the fire in his belly” in 3...2...1
Those gnats will get SLAPPED if they come ‘round this article!!
What conservatives? Rudy? McCain?
Unless and until Fred gets in, Duncan Hunter is the strongest conservative.
Run Fred Run.
I thought that meant that conservatives are more likely to vot in the primaries.
Because we need the very best.
“I actually teared up at one point”
Just imagine when he wins!
I agree, good article - the most comprehensive one lately. I say we need someone to keep an eye on that red truck. If it get’s taken for a wax job and some new tires, watch out!
“It is this sort of system that produces a George Bush as a presidential candidate. I had a conversation with a rich young man, more thoughtful than most, who has had some success in politics. He had been in one of those rooms with Bush, everyone there just like him, just like Bush. He wondered if Bush ever met anyone other than the people just like him—wealthy, confident and privileged. Is this a system that produces a president that has any idea how most of the people in America live? “
We have a winner!!
“Those gnats will get SLAPPED if they come ‘round this article!!”
The gnats the warhorse is slapping likely came off the nyc Mare.
Great read!!
My wife Gayle and I attended the grassroots rally in Cookeville, TN last Saturday, and on the way home we came up with this song:
(to the tune of Beverly Hillbillies)
Come and listen to a story ‘bout a man named Fred
An ex-senator who really did what he said.
They called him into duty, ‘cuz he had integrity
Yes, the man they got behind was from the state of Tennessee.
Run, they said. Run, Fred, Run.
Now the grassroots were growin’ like the flowers in the spring
When the rally down in Cookeville started off the whole durn thing
They wanted him to run and signed their names f’r all t’ see
Yes, the man they got behind was from the hills of Tennessee.
Fred, they said. Run, Fred, Run.
Now he’s not a politician like those guys up on the Hill
And that’s the very reason that they think he’ll fit the bill.
On the values and the issues he’s a true conservative
So let’s rally our support now for the man from Tennessee.
Run, they said. Fred’s our man!
So we’re calling on Fred Thompson as the man we’ll get behind
He’s the law and order candidate who’ll really speak his mind
And we’re looking toward the day that we can say triumphantly
That he’s the President-elect from Middle Tennessee.
Go, Fred, they said. Make us proud, y’hear!
(with our apologies to whoever wrote the Beverly Hillbillies’ song)
~snip~
The problem with our politics is that the people who can get elected president are the people we wouldn’t want as president. If there is anybody who can upset the status quo, create a new dynamic and overcome the process it would be Fred Dalton Thompson.
~snip~
LMBO!
The old school freepers spent years dealing with Clintonista bullsh**. Do the Rudy boosters really think that their bullsh** is of such a higher grade than Clintonista bullsh** that we can't recognize it as such?
Warhorse indeed.
The 2nd showing of H&C last night, I thought I'd watch the commentary after the interview. I couldn't. Dick Morris made me sick.
Dickie said Republicans want a tiger, and that Fred isn't one and that Rudy is.
Well Mr. Morris, I'm a Republican (or more accurately - a conservative), I know conservatives; and Mr. Morris you wouldn't know what conservatives want if they hit you upside the head with a 2x4.
Tigers are good hunters and can take big prey. But a warhorse; a warhorse knows when he's going to charge into battle, most times a battle when the odds against him are great, and he may not come out of it. A tiger, will retreat when out numbered. A tiger is a solitary animal, out for his own self interest.
Darn...that is good!
Hmm, interesting.
Rooty is no tiger. More like metrosexual queer kisser.
Of course WE know that. Poor old Morris is clueless. And to think, he gets paid big bucks for his advice.
Amazing!
I very much want a decent candidate who will fight for the things I believe in as president. I very much want to believe that FDT is that man as I'm sure many others also want. Unlike so many others, the office seems to be seeking him as opposed to him seeking the office and from all appearances so far, he just may live up to the hype that is being built around him. I hope so.
I quite enjoyed that! Thanks! :^)
He needs to enter now! in...
He said something remotely pro-choice in 1994 in ...
Where's areafiftyone when you need him?
Oh that's right, his account has been suspended...
You’re KIDDING!! Never thought that would happen. And she was a she.
This account has been banned or suspended.
great song. I think Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs wrote the original.
Me too, politicalmom. I loved that Red truck campaign he did.
Go Fred!
Love it!
Dick Morris has thrown in with Rudy. I can respect that. If I were an inside-the-beltway type, sucking toes with high dollar hookers, Rudy would be my favorite Republican as well.
But to those of us here in fly-over country, Fred sure sounds good. There must be an awful lot of other people out there thinking like me as well, because there are a lot of folks with a horse in this race who are doing all they can to bash Fred, but ignore the other candidates.
Face it Dick, you FEAR THE FRED!
Good song! I like it!
Good one!
Here’s another:
(sung to the tune of “For What It’s Worth”
as performed by the Buffalo Springfield)
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man dissin’ Fred over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, Fredheads, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Thompson’s right, and the leftists are wrong
Fred is out there speaking his mind
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
What a field-day for the bots
All they do is diss Fred a lot
Sayin’ he’s lazy, and then this and then that
Close your eyes and you’ll hear a Democrat
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Fredophobia strikes deep
Into your thread it will creep
It starts when the bots are afraid
that Fred will run and blow the “Big Three” away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, Fredheads, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
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