[RexBeach]

Don’t tarry, Fred. You need to get into this...and soon.

[agere_contra]

September's soon enough. Go at your own pace FDT!

[Reagan Man]

The dog days of August start tomorrow. Nothing will be coming from the unofficial Thompson campaign until September. Far as I can tell, FredT is on schedule. Without announcing his intentions FredT has significantly cut into Rooty`s support and raised $3.4 million in his first unofficial month of testing the waters.

The RudyBoosters are running scared!

GO FRed GO!

[jwparkerjr]

I like the Fred Thompson is flying in the face of conventional wisdom! He’s showing with his actions that he’s going to run HIS race, HIS way and not be dictated to by the MSM or the political powers-that-be. Maybe his feeling is that if he can’t get the nomination HIS way then he doesn’t need it?

[Petronski]

...Thompson's testing-the-waters phase has gone far beyond his original plans for a July 4 announcement...

That was a rumor.

[ElectricStrawberry]

Wow...backers, financial and otherwise, want their chosen candidate to actually get into the compaign for the office they’re backing him for?

Whodathunkit?

[Petronski]

...aised more than $3.4 million in June -- less than the predicted $5 million -- ...

Predicted?

They said they set that goal, but did it rise to the level of a prediction?

[Badeye]

I think he’s playing this just right for the time being.

This whole ‘get in the race before its too late!’ stuff is coming from some political junkies here at FR that keep forgetting the campaign shouldn’t have started yet.

Outside of us (political junkies) and the political talks show, the VOTERS aren’t paying any attention. And they won’t for several months yet.

There will be plenty of cash when the time comes, just like always. And it will favor the party of small business, the GOP, as always.

I don’t know if Thompson is the ‘end all’ to the primaries, again its simply way too early. But he is scoring points with me for the simple reason he isn’t letting the heads of the RNC nor the DNC dictate his ‘schedule’.

That alone shows a nice independent streak, and a refreshing ‘new viewpoint’ especially compared to the Rudy McRomney types we’ve been watching - because there isn’t much else to do politically, for the past few months.

Take the time you need, Fred Thompson. So far, your political instincts are serving you very well indeed.

[FreeReign]

Excerpt: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 wasn't quoted as saying "August".

[mmichaels1970]

"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.

Wamp sounds a lot like Fred here don't you think?

[goldstategop]

Either get in or get out. Its not a personal criticism but a candidate's supporters needs to know if he's really in to run the race.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[xcamel]

Love the spin.
Fred’s not late, the others just bought in to the “too soon toast” (A division of Bush Derangement Syndrome, Inc.) media hype.

[Bigoleelephant]

...amid some concerns he has waited too long.

Too long? They do realize there are over 500 days until the election? That's 5 with two zeros.

Wait! Fred! Wait!

[longtermmemmory]

When does Law and Order end the re-runs?

I would say that is the actual date he announces.

I suspect this artificial august push has DBM written on it.

[samtheman]

By waiting until September Fred creates tension.

Tension begets attention.

Attention begets votes.

[SuziQ]

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.

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?