Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 09/02/2007 10:06:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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.
Track the latest polls at www.realclearpolitics.com
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you wish to join this list, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
Why don’t you take your snide, disgusting remarks over to DU!
Any more of this crap, and I’m hittin’ the abuse button...EVERY TIME!
Hunter built the San Diego fence, saved the Mt. Solidad cross, has tirelessly re-introduced the Right to Life act year after year, and has a distinguished record as Representative and protecting our nation and military as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He has a long and distinguished career, and whether you agree with him or not, you have no doubt where he stands, or about his core beliefs.
Fred will breeze to the finish line, because he hasn’t been shoved down our throats like W was...COUGH COUGH!
It is past amusing, it is pathetic...
You have made lame an art form with these post.
Kudos to you!
Why don’t you worry about your guy’s gutter dwelling numbers, and let FRed worry about his ailments?
I’m not particularly concerned with national polling because in America we don’t have a national primary.
The difference between FRed and Duncan? FRed has in remission Cancer. He’ll live another 20 years. Duncan’s campaign is dead, as we speak.
Aren’t you just so proud of yourself?
And yet he polls...with Ron Paul.
No doubt, his success comes from your hard work.
Your guy won’t make to the primaries, let alone the general.
Then who do you badmouth?
I’m beginning to believe his only “Core” belief, at this point, is building his PAC for his son.
He’s knows he ain’t goin’ nowhere, but to retirement in the house he bilked the insurance company for.
Hunter personable? Hahahahahaha
He’s got the personality of a rock. A petrified one, at that!
You’re an angry, irrational person - a disgrace to your candidate certainly not winning him any support. Been drinking, perchance? Never mind, don’t bother to post a response.
And you’re a disgusting moron.
So What??? He doesn't have his own TV show...
I’d be grinning like that too at 65 with her on my arm
The Tennessee Stud was long and lean, the color of the sun and his eyes were green.
Actually, it is considered a curable type of blood cancer. Usually very long remission times if not cured. Very treatable if non-hodgkin’s. Other blood cancers, leukemia, are treatable but not curable. I’m in remission for CLL. My Father is in remission for Lymphoma at age 84. Both of us were stricken about 18 months ago even though we are 30 years apart in age. (Can’t hit the lotto, but we managed to pull this off).
And for those of you worried about supporting a “cancer patient” for the Republican nominee for President, don’t give it another thought. Neither I or my Father are getting into the 2008 race.
Sleep easy
I hope you get better, FRiend. That is QUITE the unfortunate coincidence. Stay well.
My concerns, while admittedly somewhat political, are that no one seems to care that Fred Thompson, a senior citizen, has young children who need him around for some time. What life-shortening effects would just the run for the Presidency - nevermind the rigors of the office itself - have on that? It seems everyone wants a Hollywood-style rock-star stud, and doesn’t give a damn about the man’s well-being.
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