The Daily FRead (September 1, 2007)

You might find this a useful site to bookmark...

Republican Primary State Polls Chart in order of Primary Date
Submitted by brkcmo on Fri, 08/31/2007 - 9:32pm.
Here is a link to a GOP Primary Polls Chart that I will be continuing to develop and keep updated throughout the campaign. The chart lists State Primary Polls in the order in which the primary will occur. Of course, that seems to change weekly as states move their primary/caucus dates. As they change, I will adjust the chart. This will help us to see visually how Fred stands in the states in the order in which they will actually vote.
This is a work in progress. It will help serve as a baseline for us to follow how Fred moves in the polls as he officially enters the race! So far, I only have the most recent polls for the January 2008 voting states, and the first of over twenty states that will vote on Super Tuesday. I will keep working on it and will add polls as they are released. You will notice that some states are listed with their voting date even though there are no polls yet that I have found for that state. If you know of recent polls I have not yet listed for a state I have on the chart, please post a comment to this post. I'm not going back prior to August to post polls. We'll just add from this point forward. Hope this is helpful!

Is Fred Thompson Made of Presidential Material?
His story sings—a small-town boy who became a senator and a star. But does he have the requisite fire in the belly? We'll soon see.
By Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Sept. 10, 2007 issue - Fred Thompson does not want to meet the Butter Princess. Everywhere he turns at this morning's meet-and-greet at the Minnesota State Fair, he is surrounded by hundreds of star-struck onlookers, many of them "Law & Order" fans who line up three-dozen deep for a close-up with the actor who would be president. Thompson, a sometimes reluctant campaigner, is in full movie-star mode, and has his good-ole-boy charm set on high. All the women he meets are "honey" and the men "buddy." Even dressed down in khakis and a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, he is hard to miss. At 6 feet 6, he is head-and-shoulders taller than anyone around him. Posing for picture after picture, he reflexively stoops to fit in the frame. Some fans ask him to autograph DVDs of "The Hunt for Red October" and "In the Line of Fire," movies in which he had small but memorable parts playing powerful, world-weary men. "Run, Fred, run!" comes a shout from the crowd. Thompson lets out a long, low chuckle. All in all, he looks downright thrilled to be here.
Yet even on the best of days, there are limits to how far he is willing to go to please the people. As Thompson and his wandering retinue near the booth where the Butter Princess is holding court, most of his followers peel off to get a look at her. She is one of the fair's main attractions, and it's easy to see why. She is blonde and beautiful and all of 90 pounds—of butter. Carved that morning from a solid block, she smiles vacantly through the glass of her 38-degree display case. Inside, the sculptor, a woman bundled in a coat and gloves, is at work on another dairy masterpiece. Each day she creates a new bust, modeled after the real young women voted to the fair's royal court. The windows are crowded with people trying to get a look. Thompson hangs back; he clearly wants to move on. This is the second dairy statue he's had to endure this month—a couple of weeks earlier, he grudgingly posed next to a two-ton butter cow in Iowa—and he has lost any interest he may have had in the genre. He does his best to muster some enthusiasm. "Oh, she's got a wand," he says weakly. "That's somethin'."
A Minnesota politician offers to introduce him to the sculptor. "No, no," he demurs, trying to look disappointed. "I wouldn't want to get in the way." At the moment, Thompson is interested in only one thing—the giant strawberry milkshakes being sold a few yards away. He starts to walk off, but the locals aren't having any of it. Fred Thompson has come all this way, and he's going to get the full VIP treatment. Emissaries are dispatched. Hushed conversations are had. Thompson is ushered to the booth where the artist is hard at work in her icy cell. He plasters on an aw-shucks grin and sticks his head in the door for the briefest of hellos. When he comes back out, an aide rewards him with a milkshake.
It was a small but telling moment. Like all politicians, presidential candidates are expected, reasonably or not, to be tireless schmoozers of butter sovereigns, Iowa farmers, New Hampshire townsfolk, South Carolina churchgoers and so on. If you are going to run, you have to run, and that means practicing retail politics even when it is the last thing on earth you want to do.
There's no doubt Thompson looks the part; there's a reason Hollywood directors have sought him out to play wise Washington hands in the movies. His deeply lined, gently scowling face exudes authority, and he knows how to use his LBJ-size frame to impress and intimidate. And there is that disarming rumble when he speaks, a voice so grand that John McCain jokes he would be president if only he had Thompson's vocal cords. But as he prepares to formally begin his campaign for the White House this week, after months of "testing the waters," the conventional wisdom in Washington is that Thompson doesn't want it badly enough, isn't willing to work hard enough—put bluntly, that he is lazy. "He needs to show he has the appetite for a presidential campaign, and he hasn't shown that yet," says a top White House official who did not want to be named sticking a knife in the back of a fellow Republican. "It's the hardest work in the world. I'm not sure he wants to work that hard."
There may be something to the chatter. Thompson has never been an enthusiastic politician. GOP elders in Tennessee had to plead with him to run for the Senate in 1994, and he never felt at home in the Capitol, with its arcane rules of order and endless late-night jawboning sessions. This time around, some close to him question whether moving into the White House is truly Thompson's life ambition—or more the dream of his second wife, Jeri, a former GOP operative who is his unofficial campaign manager and top adviser. People "wonder if she's more into this than he is," says a Thompson adviser, who asked not to be named talking about private matters.
Thompson knows what people say about him—and it bugs him. "Fred was grumping to me about that the other day," says Howard Baker, the former Tennessee senator and Reagan White House chief of staff who was one of Thompson's political mentors. "I told him, 'They've got to criticize you for something, and that's not a bad one, because you can disprove it'."
Like most political attacks—aimed at defining an opponent before he can define himself—the claim that Thompson has spent a lifetime skating by on his God-given talents is a little too easy, and more than a little wrong. Thompson has doubtless had his share of lucky breaks; throughout his life, he's shown an enviable knack for being in the right place at the right time. But in his long, meandering career—as a young Tennessee prosecutor who won 14 of 15 bank-robbery cases, a twice-elected senator and Washington lobbyist and an accidental actor who stars in one of the most popular shows on television—Thompson has never lost a job, or a campaign, because of a lack of effort. "If I had to pick one thing that qualifies him to be president," says Baker, "it's this: he approaches things calmly, deliberately—and he doesn't shoot from the hip."

This actually gets better. Read the rest HERE

‘Superfit’ Fred hits campaign trail running
Sarah Baxter, Washington
HE IS running for president – literally. Every day Fred Thompson rises at dawn and hits the gym to get himself into shape for the White House race, according to a close confidant.
“He’s really prepping himself physically and mentally for the campaign. It’s like Bruce Spring-steen getting ready for the big tour,” the source added.
The fitness drive is part of Thompson’s attempt to inject energy into his 2008 presidential bid, which he will launch formally on Thursday.
At 6ft 5in in his gym shoes, the former senator for Tennessee and star of the television series Law & Order is not short on stature, but he has been putting aside time for a personal trainer and is said to be “svelte and in tremendous shape”.
A battle bus is ready to roll with the slogan “Security, Unity and Prosperity”, taking him to five states. He will appear on the Jay Leno Show, where Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his campaign for California governor.
He had better get cracking, Republicans warn. Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W Bush, said: “From the moment that Thompson declares, he has about a one-week window for people to say he’s for real or not. If people get a let-down feeling after his announcement, because he got in so late, it will be harder for him to recover.”
After a phenomenal start to his unofficial bid for the White House last spring, Thompson’s campaign nearly ran out of puff over the summer as the would-be candidate dithered about when to enter the race.
The high point was an audience with Baroness Thatcher in London in June – the nearest thing to a blessing from the late President Ronald Reagan. Thompson had been expected to announce a fortnight later, but feared his organisation was in poor shape. As the weeks drifted by, the enthusiasm of his “Fredhead” supporters waned, his fundraising hit a wall and his poll numbers deflated.
A series of top aides were hired and fired and his wife Jeri, a former Republican consultant, was accused of micro-managing his campaign. She was the one person on top of the job, friends say, and will remain influential.
By the time Thompson was lolling around the Iowa State Fair last month, wearing Gucci loafers on a golf cart instead of going on a walkabout like every other candidate, his closest advisers were appalled by the squandered momentum. The YouTube clips of a seemingly “lazy” Thompson played to the image of a candidate who lacked the fire in the belly to run.
Speculation mounted that Thompson, 65 – who has suffered from lymphoma, a form of cancer, which is in remission – was in poor health. He was losing weight, it was noted. But he was in reality turning into a lean campaigning machine, according to friends. “He knows the race is going to be physically gruelling and he is all psyched up,” one said. “It’s look at you, man!”
Supporters hope Thompson’s summer of playing “footsie” with the voters will be forgotten once he campaigns in earnest. He intends to fill a gap in the presidential market for a robust conservative with a populist touch.
“You look at my voting record on taxes, regulations, national security, abortion-related issues and guns,” Thompson said. “By any measure, I’ve got a conservative voting record and I think those are the principles our country was founded on.”
The mantra of the new revitalised effort is “Let Fred be Fred”. Bill Lacy, who recently took charge of his White House bid, ran Thompson’s senatorial campaign in Tennessee in 1994. He was lagging in the polls when he climbed into a red pickup truck, drove around the state and impressed people with his southern good ol’ boy style. Lacy had initially thought the truck was a bad idea. “Fred had the good sense to ignore my advice,” he recalled. “It was classic Hollywood. A happy ending.”
This time, Thompson intends to use the internet to maximum effect, having noted early on how a video produced by a supporter of Barack Obama showing Hillary Clinton as 1984’s Big Brother went viral.
He is pursuing a risky strategy, however, by snubbing traditional voters in New Hampshire, a key primary state. He is skipping this week’s Republican presidential debate, although the other top contenders will all be present. Thompson also faces a strong rival in Rudolph Giuliani, who has consolidated his position as Republican frontrunner over the summer and leads him by nearly 12 points. However, the thrice-married former mayor of New York is vulnerable to attacks over his private life.
Thompson will be seeking to detach voters from Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a Mormon, who has a slick, well financed campaign and is beginning to win over evangelical Christian voters. “If we had Romney’s organisation and Fred’s personality, the race would be over,” said a Thompson insider. He has already had a near fatal impact on John McCain’s campaign. The Vietnam war hero is now down to 11% in the polls.
If Thompson falters, Newt Gingrich, the conservative ideologue, is waiting in the wings. He told conservatives privately last week that if he could get $30m in pledges by the end of October – admittedly a tall order – he would run for president.

Official: Thompson bringing Hollywood into GOP Presidential Race
Actor-politician Fred Thompson makes it official - he is going after Oval Office for his next set
By Lagan Sebert
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/1/07 — Labor Day is historically when presidential primaries get going full steam, and although candidates have been going at it much earlier this year, actor/politician Fred Thompson appears ready to kick the Republican Primaries into high gear with an official announcement.
The ex “Law & Order” star and former senator Thompson said that he will officially enter the presidential race Sept. 6. Thompson has been quasi-campaigning for months, however he has been vague as to his intentions. When he asked to be released from his role on the NBC show “Law & Order” this May many took it as proof that he would indeed run, however until now it has only been speculation.
In a June 4 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center Thompson registered second to Rudy Giuliani as the most appealing Republican candidate, and the most appealing to self described conservatives. Thompson has often been cast in stately rolls in his acting career and it seems that he may have an upper hand in catching voters imaginations due to his Hollywood Star power and conservative credentials.
“When Hollywood directors need someone who can personify governmental power, they often turn to [Thompson],” wrote Rick Bragg in a New York Times article in 1994.
Ronald Reagan, also an actor, was called the great communicator and democratic leader Barack Obama was recently complimented by actor George Clooney as having the aura of a rock star. Both President Bush and former President Clinton have been praised for their ability to communicate with “average Americans”. Thompson’s stately manner and natural communication skills may be a forceful weapon in his bid for the republican nomination. Even though McCain is a war hero and Thompson has only played one in the movies, he may in fact be a more convincing figure.
“I believe that there are millions of Americans who know that our security and prosperity are at risk if we don’t address the challenges of our time,” said Thompson in a statement Thursday.
Thompson cited terrorism, small government and decreased taxes as focal points of his campaign. He left politics in 2003 to pursue an acting career after nearly ten years of representing Tennessee in the Senate.

Thompson's image tarnished by Watergate
By Tim Shipman in Washington, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:17am BST 02/09/2007
As a politician, Fred Thompson will formally launch his long-expected run for the White House this week, portraying himself as a plain-speaking man of the south, untainted by the double-dealing of Washington.
As an actor, he made his name as a gruff district attorney pursing justice in the long-running American television drama, Law and Order, a persona that has helped him to second place in the race for the Republican -nomination.
But as Mr Thompson, 65, finally shows his hand, critics are suggesting that his track record as a lawyer proves that the politician is far from the screen image he is selling to voters.
Mr Thompson made his name as the chief Republican counsel in the Congressional investigation of the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon in August 1974. He famously asked the question that exposed the existence of a secret White House taping system - whose recorded conversations would lead, eventually, to the president's resignation.
But last week it emerged that - unlike his television character Arthur Branch - Mr Thompson apparently spent much of his energy trying to defend those he was investigating. He is said to have leaked information to the White House, discussed strategy with Mr Nixon's advisers and helped to discredit the president's critics.
John Dean, the whistleblower who exposed Mr Nixon's cover-up of the Watergate burglary, has accused Mr Thompson of leaking details of his claims to the White House and receiving in return briefings from the White House counsel on how to cross-examine the witness. "Fred Thompson's role was to try to discredit me to protect Nixon," Mr Dean recalled.
Mr Thompson, who was counsel for the Republican minority on the investigating committee, has admitted that he was hoodwinked by the Nixon team. "I took my president at his word," he said in a recent interview. "And the things that later turned out were surprising, and disappointing." Fred Thompson, who launches his White House bid this week
In 1981, Mr Thompson was appointed special counsel to the Senate intelligence committee for an inquiry into Ronald Reagan's CIA director, William Casey, as senators demanded his head over dubious business dealings and his erratic management style. According to documents discovered by The New York Times, Mr Thompson assured the White House there was "no smoking gun", even before he had interviewed a single witness.
Irvin Nathan, who represented the committee's Democratic minority, said of Mr Thompson last week: "He was looking to save Casey's job. His job was to get the matter off the table for the White House." The committee did not find against Casey, who continued as CIA chief for several years.
The revelation that Mr Thompson discreetly helped two Republican presidents will not itself harm his standing with party loyalists, but the notion that he is far more of a Washington insider than he admits will undermine a key plank of his campaign. It will be seized on by his three main Republican rivals, Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Senator John McCain, whose campaign appears to be on life support.
A former White House spin doctor who is supporting Mr Giuliani, compared Mr Thompson unfavourably with his Law and Order character. "They are selling Arthur Branch the candidate, and the candidate is not Arthur Branch," he said. "He's too late getting in, and he's as Washington as anyone else. He's going to find that the water is hotter than he thinks."
Mr Thompson will have to hit the ground running to convince people that his candidacy, once hailed as the saviour of conservatives, can overcome a slow start in key early primary states, lacklustre fundraising and a high turnover of aides.
He will appear on The Tonight Show with the comedian, Jay Leno, on Wednesday, while the other candidates are taking part in a televised debate, before announcing his candidacy in an internet message on Thursday.
Jim Nuzzo, a Republican consultant and commentator, who served in the White House under the first President Bush, voiced the doubts of many in the party over Mr Thompson's vague and sometimes hesitant message, on display during his first keynote campaign speech in Orange County, California, three months ago and, more recently, during a visit to London.
Mr Nuzzo said: "Everyone's waiting for McCain to drop out and Fred Thompson to come in. There's an extraordinary sense of expectation. He has two to three weeks to prove himself capable of embodying the values that Republicans want. If he is able to prove himself a statesman and a unifier, the Republican nomination battle will be over.
"It's Thompson's to lose. These pre-emptive attacks are good for him, because the opposition is blowing a lot of its material at a time when no one is listening."

The New Hamsphire Debate, Brought To You By Fred Thompson
Fred Thompson will officially announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, September 6th, which means he won't take an official role in the previous night's debate in New Hampshire. However, Thompson has decided to take another role for that event instead -- sponsor:
Fred D. Thompson, the soon-to-be-official presidential contender, has come under a good deal of criticism in New Hampshire this week for scheduling his formal announcement for next Thursday morning and thus skipping the Republican debate in Manchester on Wednesday night.
But that does not mean that television viewers watching the debate will not see him.
Campaign officials said Friday that Mr. Thompson had bought a 30-second spot that would be televised nationally on the Fox News Channel, the network carrying the debate, just as viewers are tuning in at the onset.
One campaign official familiar with the decision said the spot would be a sneak preview of the announcement that Mr. Thompson will make the next day in a video posted on his Web site, to be followed later Thursday by campaign appearances in Iowa.
It's a shrewd move by Thompson, one that gets his face in front of the public and allows him to participate in the event, but on his terms. He'll overshadow the debate, the second time he's managed to do that, and give himself a little more time to prepare properly for his first debate.
After this, though, Thompson has to fully engage. Once his announcement is made, he will have to show some fire on the campaign trail. His appearance in Minnesota showed that he's building up to a fast start, but it will also have to be near-flawless. He won't have the time to recover from stumbles as Rudy Giuliani did on abortion in April.
We'll be live-blogging the New Hampshire debate at Heading Right. Be sure to make us part of your debate experience on September 5th!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.