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.
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I guess I've been callous. :)
cool.
AND he does not have to participate in that silly dog and pony debate.
(BTW has he made a statement on the fact they are now issuing marriage licenses to homosexual as a result of one state court judges order?)
Yeah, have a heart. Be kind to those less fortunate than you.
We all have made bad choices at some point...
Exactly..
“Stop whining.”
That’s probably the thing that annoys me the most about Anti-Freds. I guess that’s the reason we have a scroller.
: )
He's not "dodging regulations", he is playing within the rules and playing to win. I want him to do both. Why don't you?
“”As Fred supporters, we can afford to be magnanimous.””’
When you have 51% of freepers, with another 19% FR Duncan Hunter support coming your way, with the rest of the strays moving to your side as the months go by (except for the Romney cult, which is a whole different story), I would say that the Thompson crowd can afford to be confident and gracious.
Excellent post Sturm! One of your best! Major Kudos!
Re#45 Yes it is. But it is going to be a hell of a fight...
“So, with September 6th he gets a two-fer. He gets to duck the September 5th debate and hide his disappointing fund-raising. That is inspirational leadership.”
No kidding. Not to mention he outed the liars who kept touting the Law and Order excuse. He might have been better off if he’d joined them. At least it was a halfway respectable excuse.
We’ve said all along that he’s not ready for prime time...with articles like this written by your own campaign, as the saying goes, “who needs enemies”?
Hows about Duncan Hunter VP and Tanc to head up the border patrol or Dept of Homeland Security?
Even pissant ;-)...
There are times I wish he really had it in him to mount a national effort, but alas...
If Tanc’s not VP have him head ICE and if Hunter’s not VP I go with him for SECDEF or DHS.
I agree...hope he’s as good as my instincts say he is. Most important, though, is his ability to connect with ordinary Americans. You have it or you don’t. Fred has it, thank God.
Rudy.
I agree. I like Hunter a lot, too, but he can’t beat Hillary or Obama.
Need any more examples?
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