Posted on 08/08/2007 7:39:29 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Thompson picks prez committee manager
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago
Fred Thompson has tapped the man who engineered his 1994 Senate win to take over his likely presidential campaign, aides said Wednesday.
Bill Lacy, a former strategist for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and the Republican National Committee, confirmed in an interview that he is taking over day-to-day operations of the former Tennessee senator's committee to "test the waters" of a presidential bid.
"I'm here for the long haul," Lacy said from the committee's headquarters in a Virginia suburb. He said he has taken a leave of absence from his current post as the director of the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.
Thompson is expected to officially enter the race Labor Day week.
Over the past few weeks, the all-but-declared candidate sidelined his campaign-manager-in-waiting and watched a few other aides follow him out the door amid consternation inside the operation about the active role of Thompson's wife, Jeri.
At the time, aides said former senator and energy secretary Spencer Abraham and a Florida GOP strategist, Randy Enwright, would take over the campaign. But that turned out to be temporary as the Thompsons sought a replacement for Tom Collamore, who still is advising Thompson.
Lacy's relationship with Thompson dates to fall of 1993 when Thompson approached him to take over his then-sluggish campaign in a special election to replace Al Gore, who was assuming the vice presidency. Thompson came from behind to win the election, and went on to serve eight years in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ping!
I thought he already had a campaign manager?
Yawn.
Let me know when he announces that he’s running.
Heh. Just doing a little preemptive bit, here!
Why does that offer me no comfort? Is Fred now going to start talking about himself in the third person?
The Abraham story apparently wasn’t for real.
So what happened to Spenser Abraham? How many “temporary” posts are there?
Think of him as a day laborer.
I think if Jeri (Fred’s wife) turns out to be a Two-for-One deal the people of this Nation will be better off than the one we got from the Clinton trailer trash bunch!!!!!!!.....
I think this is number three?
Randy Enwright (Florida GOP guy, very bright) is the POLITICAL director for Fred...Bill Lacy is going to be CAMPAIGN director. He was also a Reagan strategy guy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/08/politics/p071035D81.DTL&type=politics
Looks like his third “campaign” manager, though there is no campaign yet. Not very impressive...
At this point, I can't say I know what all the facts are here. What we have so far is an attack piece by Debbie Schlussel which contradicts the statements of Fred's own advisors. From what I've seen so far, Debbie Schlussel has claimed Spencer Abraham is Fred's campaign manager, while Fred's people are saying Fred's new campaign manager is named Randy Enright.More from Blogs for Thompson
It seems more like Spence will be a mere campaign advisor and “ambassador” to Washington, NOT the campaign manager. According to one report in the New York Post, Thompson’s campaign manager is Randy Enwright, not Abraham.“Spence is not going to be the campaign manager,” the adviser said. “He won’t be running anything.”
That job will be in the hands of Randy Enwright, a veteran Florida Republican who is widely respected and also once ran the GOP in Iowa.
And according to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Enright is a veteran operative in Florida who was part of President Bush’s political operation in the key swing state; he also was executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa. Abraham served in the Bush administration after losing re-election in 2000 to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow; in 2006, he joined a French-owned nuclear company, Areva Inc., as chairman of its board of directors.
They say that “Enright is heading the political operation, while Abraham doesn’t yet have a title,” and this seems to solve the fact that Abraham is not the campaign manager.
We also have a more detailed report from Politico:
The day-to-day campaign will now be run by Randy Enwright, a Florida consultant who was the political director. And former Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) will be the chairman, acting as the campaign’s ambassador to official Washington.
In other words, Abraham is not in the decision making position that other news media is assuming he is going to be.
Now, it seems that the media has assigned Spencer Abraham to be Fred Thompson’s “campaign manager,” but I don’t see Team Thompson ever saying that directly. I think this Abraham-is-manager meme is one created out of whole cloth by and furthered by the media.
You hold up the mantle well my friend...
I guess that is why he hired Lacy, because he isn’t running.
He had the money for more beer...
“Bill Lacy, a former strategist for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and the Republican National Committee...”
You left out Ronald Reagan
Yeah, but Thompson’s no Reagan...
Or was that Dole...
Guess it doesn’t matter as long as the people in his campaign know who is boss.
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