Is Fred Thompson the GOP's Savior? (Time Magazine Cover)

Time.com ^ | 7/26/7 | Davis Yellen

[hardback]

Many Republican faithful, from the grass roots to the Capitol, have concluded that Fred Thompson, the preternaturally avuncular actor and former Senator from Tennessee, is the cure-all for their party's ills.

Thompson has yet to enter the presidential race, and yet Thompson already shares front-runner status with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in some national polls of gop voters.

Thompson will spend the rest of the summer raising money, which he was scheduled to do conspicuously at a donor event in Washington on July 28. Another advantage to waiting: the longer he remains an unofficial candidate, the longer NBC can air reruns of Law & Order featuring Thompson as Manhattan DA Arthur Branch without running afoul of the equal-time provision of federal campaign law.

"His timing has been brilliant so far," insists Tennessee Congressman Zach Wamp, who led the effort to convince Thompson he should run. "While he's been waiting, some candidates have been falling and the others haven't been moving. Frankly, there's been a lot of advantages to [it]. He's probably gotten more attention not being a candidate than he would have being a candidate."

While Thompson's undeclared campaign , raises money and figures out how to live up to the hype surrounding his candidacy, his potential opponents are busy adjusting to the new dynamics of the race.

The problem for Giuliani—and the rest of the field—is that Thompson has the same strategy, and the Tennessean's Southern drawl and conservative voting record are likely to play well in South Carolina.

If Thompson can keep enthusiasm high until he enters the race in the fall, he might be able to turn what was supposed to be a marathon race for the nomination into a relatively brief, four-month sprint.

[Clara Lou]

You know—I had that same thought earlier this morning.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

He will enter the race on 9/11.

[WannabeTurk]

Sorry, that was meant for prairiebreeze ...

[ejonesie22]

Need the “Aw jeez” sign again.

It’s been explained. If you are new to the Fred info, look it up. If not, youre spinning in a hole...

[Clara Lou]

I see that you’re also into leaps of logic.

[Doofer]

OK I have to call foul. He doesn’t, he can support Fred if he wins and has said so several times.

Fun is fun and fair is fair...

You're wrong, he's changed his mind about Fred being his number 2 choice....

[Paladin2]

Just passing time until the swim meet.

[Clara Lou]

OK

[Little Ray]

Not yet, but he can audition for the role.

[Clara Lou]

Get out of here! Really? When did that happen?

[ontap]

Nuh! I think ole Pissant will come around when it’s time for the rubber to meet the road. As will most of our other friends on FR. I’ll support whoever gets the nomination, I have no intention of ceding the country to the kooky left.

[WannabeTurk]

Clinton lover

[Paladin2]

I think non-lawyers tend to make better Presidents.

[ontap]

WOW a former congressman from New York! Well I guess ol Fred should just fold his tent and leave.

[SueRae]

I see it. Time is just another Dem infomercial. If there is any way they can set up a Republican candidate, even an unannounced one, for a fall, they will do it. They are in pre-emptive strike mode.

[Clara Lou]

Why did you vote to acquit Clinton of perjury, Fred?
Thompson has explained in detail why he did what he did. All you have to do is avail yourself of the information posted right here on FR.

[mnehring]

You know what’s funny.. one of the things they are trashing Spencer Abraham for is being nominated for an award by LaRaza called the “Defender of the Melting Pot Award”

I have been digging and digging and digging through LaRaza’s site to find out what this is, and there is no record of this award existing..

Generic Google search on their site:
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=site:nclr.org+%22defender+of+the+melting+pot+award%22&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

List of LaRaza’s awards:
http://www.nclr.org/section/events/conference/conference_nominations

I also found only one reference to Spencer Abraham in all of LaRaza’s site, and it isn’t for loosening immigration restrictions, just the opposite, it was a mention of his being on a panel that recommended more than a dozen new immigration enforcement measures:

http://www.nclr.org/content/viewpoints/detail/42500/

Just a general Google search for the award pulls up a lot of stuff where people are talking about this in the new context, but no original press release.. at that, the earliest mention of this was a 2004 article that claims Abraham received the award in 97.. but nothing before 2004 (and this article even described Abraham as the “architect of congressional libertarians’ anti-immigrant policy of mass immigration”..

http://www.nationalreview.com/krikorian/krikorian200508190822.asp

This is another one of those stories that just doesn’t smell right..

[Teacher317]

Name a viable candidate with a better voting record.

*crickets*

Anyone with under 3% of the vote heading into August simply isn’t going to be a factor.

Duncan Hunter probably won’t even take his home state in a general election. Name a president who was elected despite failing to take his own state.

Fred is the best option on the table. “Do the best you can with what you got.”

Try this mathematical experiment:
add the average rating of your 3 favorite groups,
subtract the average ratings of your 3 least-liked groups,
add current polling numbers,
add the number of millions of dollars raised thus far,
give each candidate a score of 1-100 for experience and add that figure,
give each candidate a score of 1-100 for electability and add it,
give each candidate a score of 1-100 for telegenic presence (which, sadly, matters today) and add it.

Any fair assessment of the GOP canidates will have Fred on top every time.

For me,it goes
EXPERIENCE: Guiliani 90, McCain 85, Romney 85 (gubernatorial exp. trumps Senate time) Duncan 80, Fred 75
TELEGENIC PRESENCE: Fred 90, Guiliani 85 (did rather well on SNL), Hunter 75, McCain 70, Romney 65
CONSERVATIVE RATINGS: Hunter 96, Fred 92, Romney 73, McCain 67, Guiliani 58
LIBERAL RATINGS: Hunter 2, Fred 5, Romney 11, McCain 18, Guiliani 31
ELECTABILITY: Guiliani 85, Fred 85, McCain 75, Hunter 70, Romney 50,
MONEY (est): Guiliani 20, McCain 20, Hunter 15, Romney 10, Fred 5
POLLING: Fred 33, Rudy 28, McCain 14, Romney 11, Hunter 3

My totals:
375 Fred
337 Hunter
335 Rudy
313 McCain
282 Romney

and Fred further distances himself from the pack when he actually starts fund-raising.

(and I think I was rather generous with Hunter by giving a 70 on electability. He cannot take his home state.)

[mnehring]

Politicalmom,
Ping post #57.. more research needed.. not drawing any conclusions yet, just fishy..

[mnehring]

Great analysis..