>>>Sorry, but nobody’s interested before Thanksgiving. Fred is exactly right to not waste his money or time now.<<<
The Iowa Caucus is January 14. A failure to build a network of support across the country months before then is an almost guaranteed assurance of failure.
Traditionally, the Ames Straw Poll has served as a point at which the wagons began to circle around a select group of candidates.
Not only does Thompson’s failure to make an appearance hurt his own campaign, but it also hurts the party by leaving a grey cloud hanging over the horizon.
Even if Fred Thompson did take the Republican nomination, he’d do so at a disadvantage to the Dim nominee, who would have been building a nationwide network of support for well over a year.
Gee. I guess they all should have started ten years ago. Oh woe is me! I don’t have a grassroots organization in Iowa!
I submit that there is no need to get into the race two years before the election to win or do well in the Iowa caucus. Iowa, like New Hampshire, where I live, is small. The residents aren’t paying any attention yet. Some time around October we will begin to check out the race. Other than a few Romney ads last Spring, the political season has not started.
I also submit that this election is a bit different. Iowa and New Hampshire have become much less important because of the front loading of other states. The whole thing will be done in two weeks. Florida and South Carolina will tell the story.
Iowa and New Hampshire have little importance. Heck, NH voted for Queeg in 2000. Remember Eugene McCarthy? Gary Hart? Paul Tsongas? Ed Muskie? Henry Cabot Lodge? Harold Stassen? Well, OK, McCarthy didn’t beat LBJ but it was close.
If a candidate announces by the end of October, he or she will be right on schedule. Besides, Fred is getting more press by holding out. He’s already in first or second place and he hasn’t had to listen to that nut, Ron Paul.
What a bunch of bovine excrement. I expect Fred will give a stirring nomination speech that will rank among the best in political history, and the base will be in a frenzy. Whoever the Dim nominee is, they're going to lose.
My prediction is that Fred will win between 40-45 states.
No, it's not. Maybe, many years ago, when the MSM was the only outlet for news, and they pushed hard the idea of winners and losers in state caucus and straw polls, but that time has come and gone. There have been many a candidate who wiped the floor with their fellows in state polls, and went on to drop out later for lack of success in the primaries.