Wamp: Thompson is close to joining ’08 race

The Hill ^ | July 17, 2007 | Klaus Marre

[West Coast Conservative]

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) said Monday that he expects former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) to soon join the race for the White House.

“My view is that he’ll enter the race at some point just in the coming days,” said Wamp, a key supporter of Thompson.

The lawmaker said the actor turned senator turned actor did not want to join the race too soon but is “doing everything a presidential candidate should do.”

Thompson has long been expected to join the race and the Law & Order star has traveled the country and raised millions. He will take part in a large fundraising event in Washington, D.C. on July 29, but Wamp did not say when a formal announcement would come. The lawmaker said, however, that “a couple dozen members” of the House would publicly support Thompson at the event.

With regard to the race for the Republican nomination, Wamp said he believes it will come down to Thompson and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

With Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) campaign fading, Wamp believes Thompson, Romney and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani will become the “big three” in the Republican primary.

“I’ve talked to quite a few of McCain’s supporters in the House of Representatives, a couple in the United States Senate, that are concerned about McCain’s standing right now and the fact that he's lost his momentum,” Wamp said on MSNBC. He added that Thompson is the second choice of many McCain supporters.

The lawmaker also said that, with conservatives determining who will be the GOP candidate, Giuliani’s chances are not as good as those of Thompson and Romney.

“I feel like Giuliani’s running on 9/11 fumes and those fumes are slowly evaporating because there’s got to be the substance and the policy,” Wamp said. “And [Giuliani] doesn’t connect with the base of our party.”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’d say his waiting gambit is paying off with McCrazy’s flameout.

[normy]

Little early ain’t it? Now he gets scrutinized and the shine taken off. We’ll see, maybe he is what he seems to be and maybe he isn’t.

[trisham]

Fred is worth a double ping. :)

[prairiebreeze]

What hurts Fred is that everyone has been expecting the announcement for several weeks.

It was, of course, the liberal media who put out the July 4 date to begin with. Fred's team denied that would be the date and added they'd take a few extra weeks if they felt it necessary to get the people in place that needed to be. It's now two weeks to the day after July 4th. Hardly a "several weeks" scenario.

I've met or spoken with no Fred supporter who is impatiently stamping their feet for an announcement.

Not one.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I am sorry if hearing well meaning advice caused you pain. It wasn’t personal towards anyone.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Okay. I would be happy to be wrong. I am just pointing out human nature. I’m not the enemy of Fred.

[mnehring]

I need help with listing the mistakes in Fred's voting record on the NumbersUSA site.

I've done a lot of research on this and can honestly say, the NumbersUSA site is BS. Here's what I found..(Copied from a previous thread)

• The worst site for spreading this false information is NumbersUSA, whose record has been discredited a long time ago because they try to confuse the line between legal and illegal immigration (for example, most of those are for LEGAL immigration issues) others, like S1664 (which is most of these) are procedural votes (things like move to and from committee) and not votes on the actual bill. At that, S1664 did not even get to the Senate to vote, it was killed in committee.
  http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=V907&can_id=53292
  
  Another, S1156, Thompson didn't vote to grant amnesty, he voted to table the bill for a vote. I.E. Another procedural vote, not a vote on the actual bill. At that, Thompson's vote on the actual amendment, 1156 was Nay
  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=105&session=1&vote=00265
  
  And it isn't just Fred.. there are a lot of inaccuracies on their website.. They have votes misrepresented for a lot of people and they are posting an anti-immigration video (anti-all, not just illegal) that is wrought with inaccuracies and distortions.)

[mnehring]

Ping #27 for reference.

[Rum Tum Tugger]

If Thompson decides not to run, what happens to all the money he has raised? Does he get to keep it for personal use?

[FlashBack]

Good news is worth repeating!

[Plutarch]

It is Poop, or get off the pot time, especially if it involves ducking the next debate.

[mnehring]

I thought you may also want to be pinged on #27

[Politicalmom]

Thanks. I forwarded that to them.

Do you have anything to add, Super-sleuth Ellery?

[bcsco]

I thought you may also want to be pinged on #27

Thanks! That's good information.

[Xenalyte]

Zach Wamp has the single worst name in current American politics.

[ImpBill]

LOL. Actually, after watching, I wish I hadn’t.

[mware]

Jut saw a segment on Fox & FRiends a little earlier saying that ABC will not show any of the L&O episodes with Fred once he declares himself a candidate.

That could be why Fred may not declare until after the season reruns are over.

I dont think the rules applies to cable tv, but not sure.

[ImpBill]

And I didn't take it as a personal attack. I also tried to be as FRiendly as I could in my response, which was also not meant to be a personal jibe at you. I was simply stating my opinion. After all I thought, that was what the forum was about, the friendly exchange of opinion.

No apology was necessary. However rendered, is graciously accepted.

Greg

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

And Gen. Franco may die any day now.

[painter]

I think that is one of the reasons why Fred has stayed out for as long as he has.