Posted on 07/31/2007 10:49:25 AM PDT by SunStar
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Fred Thompson needs to say in August if he is running for president because he has enjoyed about all the benefits he can expect from being a noncandidate, a key backer said on Tuesday.
The Hollywood actor turned White House contender announced he had raised more than $3.4 million in June -- less than the predicted $5 million -- for his presidential campaign-in-waiting, amid some concerns he has waited too long.
"The level of support and enthusiasm from people across this country is inspiring," said a statement from Thompson, who said donations came from 9,167 people from all 50 states.
Thompson's testing-the-waters phase has gone far beyond his original plans for a July 4 announcement and his candidacy to be the Republican nominee in the November 2008 election is now expected in September.
Tennessee Republican Rep. Zach Wamp, a key supporter of the 6-foot-6 conservative many Republicans are hoping will fill a void, said a September announcement speech by Thompson would be fine, but that the former U.S. senator from Tennessee needs to definitively say in August that he is a candidate.
He said Thompson is "approaching the apex of the benefits of being a noncandidate."
"His strategy and the use of noncandidate status has worked very much to his advantage to this point," Wamp said. "I believe we're approaching the point at which he needs to be a candidate -- I mean full-blown, 'I am running for president,' no holds barred."
Wamp said once Thompson says he is a candidate, the movie and television actor will be able to raise more money and pick up more endorsements from members of Congress beyond the two dozen Wamp has corralled for him.
"I've got horses in the gate like the Kentucky Derby and they've been there for a while. Horses in the gate are restless creatures. They've been stammerin' and snortin' and I don't want them spittin'," Wamp said.
Thompson's campaign, in announcing a staff shake-up last week, said it was preparing "to move on to another phase."
DOING WELL IN POLLS
Despite the delays, he has done relatively well in national public opinion polls, often placing second to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Fergus Cullen, chairman of the Republican Party in the early voting state of New Hampshire, said "it's not too late" for Thompson to enter the race, but noted it had been four weeks since the star of the hit U.S. "Law & Order" television show had last visited New Hampshire.
"I guess I'm surprised by it," he said.
With the New Hampshire primary expected to be in January, only five months away, Cullen said "at some point your elected officials and people who give endorsements and give a candidate credibility commit to another candidate."
An average of recent polls by realclearpolitics.com shows Thompson in a seemingly strong position, running in second place with 19.8 percent support behind Giuliani at 25.5 percent and ahead of Arizona Sen. John McCain at 13.5 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 10 percent.
Republican strategist and pollster Tony Fabrizio said he did not know whether the 64-year-old Republican who retired from the Senate in 2003 after serving eight years had waited too long.
But "every day that goes by where you're not in the race is a lost fund-raising opportunity, a lost recruitment opportunity, a lost definitional opportunity, and your opponents get to continue their strategies unfettered," Fabrizio said.
"I know that it takes time to put together a presidential campaign. But he has a problem now. The problem is the expectations have been raised so much by them, given the lead time they have taken to get into the race, that any missteps or any fumbles out of the gates are going to be magnified more than in a normal start-up," he added.
Truman Bean, author of a popular blog called "Tennesseans for Thompson," said grass-roots supporters are getting impatient but a September announcement would be fine.
"It's just a matter of time until it gets going full throttle," Bean said.
By waiting until September Fred creates tension.
Tension begets attention.
Attention begets votes.
As far as I know, Fred has NEVER announced any possible date by which he'd announce. Some political blog suggested the July 4th date, and everyone started repeating it, morphing into "Fred said he'd announce on July 4th, so what's his problem now".
Unless Fred himself states it, it's all speculation. I'm also suspicious when an article slamming Fred is basing it's premise on a complaint by an anonymous 'key backer'. Does the writer know FOR SURE if the person with whom he's speaking truly IS a key backer, or is just posing as one in order to further the chances of another candidate?
Not just political reporters, but political producers, and the owners of aforesaid political producers, ie, the MSM are collectively bitching because they can't monetize his candidacy to their own ends -- by leveling any number of falsehoods against a Fred candidacy -- until he declares.
They can't attack him until then -- it would be "unseemly". So right now he has a couple of bureau & pool guys kinda sorta floating along with the tide, and he's not making any "news". And that pi$$es off certain MSM Manhattan Libs, whose sole outlook on life is to bring you rumors and innuendo, particularly when levied against a rugged individualist conservative like Fred Thompson.
But anyone here who would criticize Fred for opting not to declare in the traditional MSM Off-Season, while most of the news MSMugglers are taking in the Fire Island or P-Town breezes from Memorial Day to Labor Day, are simply delusional & grossly undereducated in the ways of the MSM. Which is not a shock to me -- most of these Born in '07 disruptors will quickly go the way of nopardons and the rest of the Giuliette & (the admittedly absurdly funny) Paulist cabals.
Check out the links that politicalmom has provided in Post #9! You'll find lots of statements by Fred and links to information about his time in the Senate.
Whoops! I read that too fast! I see now that they’re quoting Wamp, but it’s interesting how they turned Wamp’s statements into some sort of negative about Fred, when he didn’t mean that at all.
You’ve just described the difference between Rationalism and Empericism.
I agree with your point. The word used is "approaching". Not there, not past....approaching.
Tomorrow it is officially August. Things are happening exactly on time, it's just that al-Reuters is spinning so hard that their clocks must be running backwards.
LOL
well, aren’t you a bitter newbie? Who is your candidate?
Yep.
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