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That was a lie perpetrated to get people to turn on Fred. From Fred2008.org

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.