FRED VETS, SIGN UP TODAY AT:
Posted on 09/12/2007 12:45:57 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) overwhelmingly leads the race of Republican presidential candidates, according to a new nationwide poll of conservatives. But Democrats are calling Thompson's presidential bid "less than stellar."
A poll conducted last week of 39,000 conservatives by the grassroots organization Grassfire.org found that conservatives favor Thompson by a greater than 2-to-1 margin over his nearest competitor, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
When asked whom they would vote for if the Republican primary were held today, 28 percent of respondents preferred Thompson. Romney gained 14 percent of the vote -down two percent from May.
"It seems conservatives want to give Thompson a chance," Steve Elliott, president of Grassfire.org, a conservative organization, told Cybercast News Service. "The survey showed that conservatives were not dismayed by the pundits' criticisms of Thompson over the summer and were still eager to give him a chance.
"The fact that Thompson held strong with this conservative audience showed that no other candidate was able to lay claim to the conservative base," he said.
Elliott said that the poll is "not good news for Romney in that he has not taken the conservative mantle and conservatives are more excited about another option."
But Alex Burgos, a spokesman for Romney, told Cybercast News Service: "We welcome Sen. Thompson to the race. Running for president is hard work and we look forward to crossing paths on the campaign trail.
"Our focus remains on motivating voters and gathering support for Gov. Romney by showing them he is the best candidate to change Washington and has the actual record of accomplishment to back it up," he added.
"We have successfully built up a national campaign of support for Gov. Romney by sticking to the exact same strategy that we have deployed since day one - by highlighting Gov. Romney's record of leadership and having run a business, the 2002 Olympics and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," he said.
Burgos added: "Gov. Romney has met big challenges and solved big problems. He's balanced [a] budget and led huge organizations, which makes him different from most of the other candidates."
Amaya Smith, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, told Cybercast News Service on Friday that Thompson's campaign has had a "less than stellar kick-off."
"After all the hype and buzz surrounding Thompson's entrance into the race, [Thursday]'s lackluster performance proved that Thompson is just not ready for prime time," she said, referring to his campaign events in Des Moines, Iowa.
"While other GOP candidates have had months to work out the kinks and fine tune their flip-flops, Fred Thompson is just getting started," she said. "Unlike Hollywood, there are no second takes, and Thompson has already shown that he just can't cut it."
Although conservatives favor Thompson, according to the poll, most expect Giuliani to win the nomination at 34 percent, compared to Thompson's 26 percent.
The survey also showed that "conservatives have given up on McCain," according to Elliott. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) gained four percent of the vote.
Ahhh Yes.....and the old man with the young trophy has swilled to much Mylanta and has effectively put out the fire in his belly.
looks like the hillary machine wants to run against fred (anything but romney) ... after all, who do you think these papers are really behind?
The polls hadn’t dissapeared. Perhaps you weren’t paying attention to them until they turned against Willard? Hillary and the DNC are scared spitless of Fred, because they thought that Obama as VP and Billy Jeff would help her pick off some Southern and border states. Ain’t gonna happen with Fred as nominee; as a matter of fact, she’ll have to defend the Midwest, West and Rocky Mountain states against Thompson.
Which Midwest and Western states that you think may flip to Thompson?
“Young” trophy? I guess that depends on your perspective. I’d say Jessica Alba would be a young trophy.
Looks like those good ol’ southern boys really do stick together. Personally, I’m not sure I want a cigar-chomping redneck in the White House, but there we are...
“cigar-chomping redneck”
Beats the hell out of a slimy lawyer from New York in my opinion.
FRED VETS, SIGN UP TODAY AT:
Well, Personally I'll take the 'Redneck' over a lisping cross dressing, draft dodging NY LIBERAL any day - and I don't mean Hillary.
btw, I see ozone and viking kittens in your future newbie rudybot.
Sten, I really respect your opinion but I have one question. After Bush 41 and Bush 43 do we really want another big government, wink wink, the same but less compassionate conservative?. If it weren’t for the Bush’s I may be inclined to give the guy a chance. But he was elected Governor of Massachusetts for god sakes. As soon as he gets the nomination he will do the Nixonian ‘run to the center’. I want a Conservative nominee who has core values not opportunistic conservative values. Lets take the party back from the Northeast Rockefeller republicans. Even if we win we lose with these guys. Don’t believe the conventional wisdom. Even Americans who didn’t agree with Reagan respected his heartfelt core beliefs and voted for him.
One more thing. I remember the 94 election where Thompson was elected to the Senate. Peggy Noonan described his debate performance as “simply the best debating performance I have ever seen”. Aren’t you tired of watching the big debates cringing the whole time?
Your conservative friend Mike.
BTW If Mitt wins the nomination I will gladly vote for him.
This goes for me, as well. In fact, I can say the same for almost all the republican candidates. The others I would vote for, but not gladly (hello McCain!)
My analysis is this.....
As more FReepers take the time to seriously look at Duncan Hunter to be Commander in Chief.. there seems to be a growing number of them leaving the Fred Camp and joining the Duncan Hunter team...
if you are one of those folks please join the Duncan Hunter meetup group(s)
http://DuncanHunter.meetup.com/1
BTTT
I like Rudy ok but dont try that stuff here.
I think a Thompson/Hunter ticket would be hard to beat.
Or a robotic weatherman from Massachutah.
ladtx,
several weeks ago I was advocating a Hunter/Thompson ticket.. in fact my tagline used to be Hunter/Thompson ‘08... but after more careful analysis of Fred Thompson, while he is a great conservative.. I think Duncan Hunter should certainly have Fred on his short list, I think there are a lot of other possible VP’s that would need serious consideration as well
FReegards,
David
I’ve been diving into the FOIA archives on the Iran Contras, Haiti, Venezuela and more.
No Thompson, period. Not even a shared ticket.
Thompson is as bad as Carter and Clinton.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.