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God-o-Meter caught up with Fred Thompson and his wife Jeri at various South Carolina events this week and has cobbled together this Q&A from a few separate exchanges. God-o-Meter has lots more to say about the Thompsons' answers--and will--but it has to head off to interview Ron Paul at Bob Jones University. God-o-Meter: Do you think religion is playing too big a role in the presidential race? Fred Thompson: I don’t have any feelings a long those lines. I think people have a right to express themselves, including people of faith, no question about it, and they’re participating and I’m...

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!

If Fred Thompson is nothing else he’s honest, or at least as honest as politics will allow one man to be. Presidential candidates through necessity are forced to make promises they know they can’t keep. Occasionally a candidate will say something in an unguarded moment being totally frank with his or her audience they wish later they hadn’t. At a town hall meeting in Burlington Iowa Fred Thompson was explaining becoming president wasn’t an obsession of his. He had a life before he decided to run and he’ll have a life if he isn’t the voter’s choice. The media’s reporting...

On the Internet as of sometime this afternoon, Fred Thompson’s closing argument to the people of Iowa. Whereas Romney is saturating the airwaves with attack ads, Thompson pays the voters the courtesy of speaking calmly, and in detail—the video runs to just over 15 minutes. Why should the good Republicans of Iowa support Thompson? Because, the candidate argues, he can win. I believe I am the only candidate in this race who can bring our party to victory in the fall. First, because of the firmness of my principles and the trust that that engenders. Secondly, because of the detailed...

He rode in on a gigantic campaign bus, but he talked like a Tennessee trainer and had this to say about his campaign thus far. "We're in a horse race, a very fluid kind of situation." The "he" is former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, the two-termer from Tennessee, who brought his presidential tour to Missouri Valley last Thursday. Thompson, during a brief interview in The Times-News office, said, "An awful lot (of people) haven't made up their minds yet-and that's a good thing. Now, people are focusing." Thompson was traveling with his wife, Jeri, and the usual entourage of aides...

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...

Cannot be posted due to copyright issues. http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071221/OPINION/112210008/1006/NEWS01

<p>Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who skipped the Iowa Republican straw poll and called it a sham, re-emerged on the political scene this week with a visit to California and speech today before a veterans group in Kansas City, Mo., designed to highlight his war hero background.</p>

That’s the verdict rendered in this article. It’s just another example of the case conservatives should be making on Fred’s behalf. Here’s one of the key sections of the article: In short, Thompson holds the same conservative positions of all the other candidates combined, and has none of their flaws. In fact, any close observer of the campaign season would tell you that Thompson has been on the receiving end of barely any substantive attacks on policy issues. This is no coincidence. And it is the reason he has had to bear the brunt of shallow attacks about his demeanor,...

Memo to readers: With his superb performance in Wednesday's debate in Iowa, Fred Thompson_has made a monkey out of me. By early afternoon on Tuesday, the column that appears below, one which posits that Thompson's presidential campaign might still find a way to win, was ready in exactly the form it appears here. But I thought the column would still remain exactly on target throughout the week, so (for various reasons) I aimed for a Friday release. At the time, I thought that until Thompson began his Iowa bus tour on Monday the 17th, my_contention that he "ain't dead" yet...

As a lifelong Democrat, I view with amusement their candidates' debate. My choice would be "none of the above." Regardless of the facts, people tend to believe what they want to believe. All the candidates propose what the people want to hear, rather than concrete proposals. The most realistic candidate is Dennis Kucinich, who witnessed UFOs flying. The problem is he looks as if he flew in on one. Of all the presidential candidates, there is one who stands out. He seems to have more intelligence, leadership qualities and would restore the image of our country to the rest of...

Compare this to [1] Huckabee’s view on waterboarding. From the [2] Charlie Rose interview: Thompson: I’m telling you, as President, if the lives of a bunch of American citizens were at stake and I thought that there was a good chance that an individual had information and could impart information that would help save those lives, I’m just saying, that I would do whatever is necessary to get that information from that person. I would authorize that. Whatever is necessary to save a number of American lives. Thanks to Cuffy who says this locks up the [3] Jack Bauer Caucus....

Days left until the Jan. 19 S.C. Republican presidential primary: 46 Days left until the Jan. 26 S.C. Democratic presidential primary: 53 Days left to register to vote: 17 CAMPAIGN TRAIL When and where presidential candidates are appearing in South Carolina 12:15 p.m. today: Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson will have a meet-and-greet at Wade’s Southern Cooking at 100 N. Pine St. in Spartanburg. 2 p.m.: Thompson will visit Blue Ridge Shooting Sport Store at 3559 Ballenger Road in Greer. 6 p.m.: Thompson will visit Market Square Deli at 2029 Wade Hampton Blvd. in Greenville. 8:45 a.m. Wednesday: Thompson will...

I was proud to host Senator Fred Thompson to the 70th Assembly District today to an enthusiastic crowd of 700 people in Laguna Woods. According to my wife, Diane, Senator Thompson, “Covered all the bases. He hit all the conservative themes and he covered them articulately and with passion.” I was very glad to hear that as Diane is very tough to impress (she had a weak moment when she met me, for which I am eternally grateful). Greeting Senator Thompson at the rally were his state chairman, Sen. Tom McClintock, radio personality John Ziegler emceed the event while former...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Like a fickle Hollywood actor who maddeningly keeps his own schedule, Fred Thompson finally walked on the set here last night and turned in the performance his long-suffering supporters have yearned for all these months. The "Law and Order" star's positions were more polished than ever. He attacked Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney sharply and effectively. And he stayed above the fray when the fights around him got downright nasty. Giuliani, meanwhile, gave the performance his supporters have always feared, showing his most liberal feathers to date. He had to defend his past coddling statements about...

Presidential Race: The war for the soul of the Republican Party was won in 1980 by Ronald Reagan. Presidential candidates who want to re-wage the conflict in 2008 will only weaken the GOP against the Democrats' nominee. In the aftermath of Vietnam, Watergate and a Jimmy Carter presidency that rendered America an economic and foreign policy basket case, Republicans discovered a tried-and-true recipe for electoral success. They would stand for three sets of principles: • Lowering high taxes and stemming the growth of government in order to revive the private economy, lower inflation and interest rates, and generate jobs. •...

Duncan Hunter is a good man, a true patriot and a very conservative Republican, although not a small-government, new federalist one. He's still a much better choice than Rudy McRombee, hands down. I'm a Fred Thompson supporter, but I nevertheless like and admire Hunter. Oh sure, I have a few nits to pick with the man. His less than sterling attendance record in the U.S. House is one. His voting record on fiscal issues is another. Finally, his opposition to free trade is a non-starter for me, although those with a more populist bent will see it as a big...

Here’s something for the really hardcore, political geeks. Fred’s first Iowa mailer. http://bp1.blogger.com/_5d_fpdUHmxc/R0MC_gjyK1I/AAAAAAAAAhw/ep7W574fYPc/s1600-h/dont+compromise.jpg Much talk is about campaigns’ tv commercials but in Iowa mailers are very important. Disclaimer: I work for Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc.

Fred Thompson rolled onto Republican rival Rudy Giuliani's turf yesterday and rapped the ex-mayor's record on social issues as out of step with conservative voters. Following a Midtown fund-raiser, Thompson said Giuliani's pro-abortion, pro-gun control and pro-illegal-immigration positions as mayor are wrong for the GOP. "He believes in federal funding for abortion. I have a 100 percent pro-life voting record and voted against federal funding for abortion on a number of occasions," said Thompson. He said he has consistently supported the Second Amendment right to bear arms while Giuliani backed gun-licensing restrictions as mayor. "Rudy has supported a variety of...

Responding to the National Right to Life Committee's endorsement of Fred Thompson, Paul Weyrich suggested that Thompson's backers greased some palms. "I think in all probability the Thompson people were engaged with the National Right to Life people in financial dealing," Weyrich told the Washington Times. That's a pretty tough charge and almost certainly not what Romney's campaign wanted their big social conservative "get" to suggest (at least not publicly). Sensing opportunity to win more points from their own big "get" (the group's nod) Thompson communications director Todd Harris unloaded: "Gov. Romney is new to the pro-life movement and his...