Posted on 11/06/2007 10:03:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The returns are mixed on Fred Thompson's first two months in the presidential race.
The Republican candidate has battled criticism for his light campaign schedule, laid-back style and rambling speeches. He's flubbed questions. He's slipped some in national and early-primary polls.
Yet, he's still competitive with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain in many surveys. He turned in a pair of decent debate performances. And he raised $12.5 million over four months from 80,000 donors.
"Of all the candidates that are out there, he's the one who most closely represents my values. He has my vote," said Laura Clark, 39, a stay-at-home mom from Bedford, who hadn't been convinced Thompson was her guy when she and her young daughter arrived Monday at a local inn to listen to him speak over breakfast.
Others weren't sold – but indicated they could be if they knew more about him.
"He answered questions very completely. But I'm still undecided," said Monica Zulauf, 51, the executive director of the YWCA of Manchester who sought an autograph from the actor-politician. "I'm waiting for a candidate who resonates on all fronts for me."
Could Thompson be that person? "He might be," she said.
Since becoming a full-fledged candidate Sept. 5, Thompson still hasn't defined himself or his vision for many voters, presenting equal parts challenge and opportunity for the low-key Southerner little more than two months before voting begins.
He faces challenges from Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has spent millions on ads to introduce himself, as well as Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is widely recognized for his work following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Staff upheaval has dogged the Thompson campaign. The latest departure came Monday when Philip Martin, a co-chairman, resigned after a report about his decades-old criminal record for drug dealing.
Advisers say Thompson has been introducing himself on the campaign trail and, in the coming weeks, will turn to advertising to flesh out his biography and his agenda. They acknowledge that Thompson's months-late entrance into the race caused some of the typical problems for a fledgling campaign. However, they argue, he is maturing as a candidate each day.
"This is exactly where we want to be. We are treated as a serious candidate," Rich Galen, a Thompson adviser, said, calling the two-month performance "way better than a mixed bag."
Still, Thompson has not become the conservatives' consensus candidate that backers made him out to be this summer. His answers on abortion, in particular, have upset some.
On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, he said that "life begins at conception" but that he doesn't support a federal constitutional amendment banning abortion.
That prompted GOP underdog Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, to claim: "Thompson's philosophy seems to be more 'cut and run' when it comes to these issues, rather than stand and lead."
Thompson told Fox News Channel on Monday: "Huckabee talks about this I suppose because it is the only conservative position he's got." He then criticized his rival for being "very weak on immigration policy" and being "one of the highest taxing governors that we had in this country."
In New Hampshire for only the third time in two months, Thompson began the day telling about 100 people in Bedford that "our country is at a crossroads." He emphasized a strong defense, saying: "We have yet to come to terms yet fully as a nation that we are in a global conflict that will not be resolved when the Iraq war is resolved." He argued for secure borders.
Curiosity brought Kelly McGill, 35, an independent voter from Alexandria: "I'm learning about him. That's exactly why I'm here today – because I don't know a lot."
Later, in Rochester, Thompson toured a manufacturer of hunting rifles, Thompson Center Arms, a Smith and Wesson Co. that McCain had visited recently, and then delivered his pitch to some 350 workers.
He elicited supportive hoots and hollers when he said: "I've been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment."
A consultant at the company, Roland Cox, 56, liked what he heard. "I was going to look into him, and now I'm sure I'm going to look into him," the independent voter said.
Thompson returns on Tuesday to South Carolina, a must-win state for the Tennessean. Although he's bunched at the top of polls there, interviews with voters over the weekend show he has work to do.
"I don't know much about the man. He was a TV star and all that, and I'm sure he's a decent man. But I've not heard him talk here. He hasn't looked me in the eyes," said Jim Clark, 64, a retired insurance agent and Vietnam veteran in Irmo, S.C.
Upstate in Simpsonville, Jim Schroder, 42, a project manager, said he had all but ruled out Thompson. "I don't know enough about him. I know he was an actor on TV and a senator. There was a lot of hype on him. But the question is does he want it enough?"
At least they are talking about him in New Hampshire. Do you ever sleep 2ndDivisionVet??? lol.
This primary campaign has produced a lot of political writers who many of us thought had conservative leanings. Now we know better.
Early and often bump.
Why is that sheer desire to be president is seen by some as a qualification? It seems to me to be at best irrelevant and at worst a disqualifiying characteristic.
Heck, if this were REALLY important, you might have to vote for Hillary Clinton. Her obsession with becoming POTUS is olfactory.
She stinks of it, but that won't get her my vote. Same with Mitt Romney. Different politics, same smell.
She stinks of it, but that won't get her my vote. Same with Mitt Romney. Different politics, same smell.
You're right, Romney is slightly to the left of Hillary.
She stinks of it, but that won’t get her my vote. Same with Mitt Romney.
IMHO that's pretty much the best shot I've seen taken against him, and it amounts to pretty much nothing.
I'm aggravated at the media black-out on Fred. They just keep pounding the lame and tired talking points on him and move on. He needs to do more TV ads and get his face out in front of the public more.
“She stinks of it, but that won’t get her my vote. Same with Mitt Romney.”
You don’t like it, take it up with me.
It’s my quote, and I’ll defend it.
By the way, I take it you are a Romeny supporter. Do you think that your guy “wants it” LESS than Hillary does?
I’ll repeat that BOTH of them stink of overweening ambition and craving to be President, and further, that I don’t find that the least bit endearing.
Thompson is toast . Beginning to look like Pubs are likewise for the forseeable future .
Well. Good morning sunshine!/s
Yesterday on FOX... Carl Cameron either flubbed when doing a spot on Thompson... or intentionally smeared him. Cameron opined on a comment made by a Thompson event attendee as “ ...as obviously referring to the candidates laziness.”
If you ever decide to leave your personal asteroid and join the rest of us on THIS planet, where we have things called mirrors, you might just find out that you have your head screwed on backward.
It’s my quote
So you say, but frankly, unless you can point out where I’m wrong, I’m rather inclined to write you off. I had a point to make, and I made it. Do you disagree with me? If so, in what way? Do you feel that it is distasteful to point out the overweening ambition of some of our current crop of candidates? Do you think that lifelong presidential craving is something to be rewarded? Are you aware that this kind of extreme ambition has made liars out of some? And worse? Should we close our eyes? What’s your beef?
We here in FreeRepublic are political junkies and follow politics year round. There are many voters out there that just have not paid much attention and are just now beginning to look seriously. I am pleased to see that everyone is keeping their minds open and want to see more of him. Fred will eventually be our candidate...not Rudy, Mitt, John or Mike. Conservatives will not let that happen.p>Immigration will be the downfall of each of them.
I meant exactly what I said when I used the word overweening: meaning overly ambitious, immodest. It’s a good word and appropriate here.
A lifelong craving to be pressident was a comment directed primarily at Hillary Clinton, and that was obvious in my post. I stand by my statement.
Something to be rewarded. I think it is the candidates minds. Don’t they want to be rewarded with votes. If not, I think I must have completely misjudged the situation. Or you have.
Liars out of some. Again, Hillary Clinton was much on my mind as I wrote this. Do you think for one minute that she is not a practiced liar. And worse?
I agree with you that it is important to know why a cnadidate is running, i.e. why they want to be president. It might be worth asking. I haven’t had seens a sensible explanation from either of the two candidates I mentioned.
You believe Romney when he saays he has a desire for public service. I think his motivations aren’t that simple. He’s spending too much of his own money on this quest for that explantion to stand on its own.
I’m sorry if you take my criticism of Romney so personally, but in fact I see what I think are legitimate parallels between Romeney and the Democrat front runner, and I think I ought to be able to draw public attention to them.
Finally, let’s be fair. There is no conservative candidate who has had the degree of invective, distortion, and slime directed at him on this board than Fred Thompson, and it is undeserved.
Republicans WILL be united after the convention, because the eventual nominee will be someone the entire party can rally behind. Of this I am very confident.
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