Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 08/31/2007 10:20:33 AM PDT by Josh Painter
There has been no end to the speculation about why Fred Thompson has waited to officially announce that he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. Many have opined that it all has to do with contract obligations to NBC for the "Law & Order" series in which he was a cast member. Sounds reasonable, but it's wrong.
Backers of some of former Sen. Thompson's opponents are saying that Fred picked September 6 over Sept. 5 so he could avoid the GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire. They say that Fred is "afraid" of facing his rivals, especially ____________________ (enter the name of your guy here). Not only wrong, but ridiculously so. If FDT is so fearful of that early September debate, then why will he participate in the one later that month (September 27 ) and all the GOP debates thereafter?
The common sense answer is that Fred's campaign hasn't been ready for him to enter the fray until now. The organization's inner circle has been shuffled to get the right people into the right positions, and state and local troops are still in the process of being organized. In addition, Fred has not been actively participating in politics since he left the Senate five years ago. He's a bit rusty, and FDT has been getting himself up to speed on all of the relevant issues and honing his debating skills. This answer makes a lot of sense and has some truth in it, but it still doesn't explain the chosen date. Why September 6, and not the 5th or the 4th?
The answer can be found in the arcane rules of the Federal Election Commission. By waiting until September 6 to formally declare his candidacy, Thompson won't have to disclose any campaign cash donations to Friends of Fred until January 31. By that date some important GOP preliminaries will be over and done with, including the caucuses in Iowa and Nevada, as well as primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida, the latter a state that Team Thompson has has identified as one of its most important targets.
We've seen what happened with Thompson's earlier disclosure that he raised $3.5 Million in his testing-the-waters campaign's first 26 days. Significantly, that amount is more than ten times greater than what Rudy Giuliani managed to raise in the first month of his campaign's exploratory phase, and it's more than all of the lower-tier GOP candidates were able to raise added together. And it was done without the benefit of using a direct mail campaign or phone trees. Only Mitt Romney raised more money in his first month, but he had the added advantage of being able to write his campaign a personal check for $850,000. Not only did Fred raise more than most of his opponents, he spent less, paying out only a bit over $625,000 from the haul.
But we heard none of this from the liberal media. All we heard from them was that the $3.5 Million Friends of Fred raised "failed to meet expectations." It's become a key part of their anti-Fred mantra. All because some of Fred's backers had mentioned a fundraising target of $5 Million.
And while Thompson was being dissed for raising "only" $3.5 Million, Democrat activists from the DNC down to the most obscure leftist blog were gleefully cheering on internet gadfly and liberal activist Lane Hudson, who filed a bogus complaint against Fred's organization with the Federal Election Commission. The Left, always wanting to have it both ways, ridiculed Fred for not raising enough money, but filed a complaint charging that he raised too much. It is more than significant to note here that one of the first hires by Fred's budding political group was no less of an expert on campaign law than Michael Toner, a former chairman of the FEC. Among his duties is giving Team Thompson advice on just what it can and cannot legally do during the testing-the-waters phase of the campaign. Smart. Very smart.
So perhaps now you can understand why Friends of Fred picked September 6, 2007, of all days, to make Fred's official announcement. It's the earliest possible date which allows Fred to get in the race, yet not have to disclose how much he raised in donations until the end of January. Having been burned by the media and the opposition, who turned his fundraising success story into a sad tale of disappointment, they are following the "Won't get fooled again" strategy.
Again, smart. Very smart.
I may or may not “BewithFred”. I’ll make that announcement sometime soon.
Snarky? Naw, that was nothing. Snarky is coining the term:
Freddy the Unready.
Your Fredophobia whines loudly and clearly. You logic... wait, you don’t have any logic.
This is nothing against Sen. Thompson but more of a complaint on the whole system.
If I can buy something with a credit card I can check my account less than an hour later and see that purchase. Why should it take nearly 5 months to report campaign contributions? That info should be published before the check can be cashed.
He’d better get the hell in soon. The anticipation is turning to annoyance and boredom at this point.
“Truther enabler” is Ron Paul but who are you picking for “the” RINO spot? There are so very many choices!
You bet I am when it comes to Presedential elections. I want the best of both worlds to debate each other. Me get back in line? I don’t think so. This cowboy does his own thing.
And a good tagline it is.
I thought it had merit also. These are our elections, why shouldn’t we set the agenda instead of the media? If a candidate doesn’t show up for a debate like that, take them off of the ballat.
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you want to be added to this list, this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
Is Newt still planning to/trying to organize the in-depth 90 minute debates on the key issues with the final group of candidates?
Give us a break it’s fourteen months until the election,Im already sick of them all!!
RC2,
I love that and it makes so much sense and will allow everyone to make a better decision. Why I think you should run for office...you are smarter than every candidate so far that I have seen.
Top three of each party? All six on one dais? That would be GREAT!
What a great idea.
To be honest, I’m sick and tired of hearing about Fred Thompson and he isn’t even running yet, when he announces I’m going to yawn, give me a break, enough already ...
I think outsmarting Willard the Weatherboy is highly laudable. A trivial effort, to be sure, but laudable nonetheless.
The article states that the Jan.31st date will be after some of the "important GOP preliminaries", but ALL of the primaries will be after that date. The events that really count won't be held until after Jan. 31st, so folks will still have plenty of time to make up their minds about the candidates on the basis of the candidates' statements and beliefs, not only the howling of others about some candidates' campaign activities.
Clicking on Fred Thompson threads to post that comment indicates to me that you are quite interested.
That's not snarky, just stupid.
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