Thompson campaign in fast lane...raises $300,000 on Internet in first day

The Denver Post ^ | September 6, 2007 | Margaret Talev

[2ndDivisionVet]

Des Moines, Iowa - Fred Thompson hit the campaign trail Thursday, telling supporters he's the Republican running for president who can best sell a traditional-values, limited-government and strong-defense message to mainstream America.

A few hundred supporters gathered at the Polk County Convention complex. With the exception of a few shout-outs and applause, their reaction wasn't as overwhelming as it was warm and approving.

In his speech - the first since announcing he'd seek the GOP nomination for president - Thomp son said that "the American people have opened up a door of opportunity" for him, and he promised to campaign on "the same common-sense, conservative beliefs" he held when he served in the Senate.

"I am not here today because I had a lifelong ambition to hold the office of the presidency, nor do I think that I have all the answers for the problems that face this country," Thompson said. "I am a man who loves his country, who is concerned about her future and knows that in the next year it's going to require strong leadership."

In the few hours since his announcement, Thompson has found support for his candidacy.

Since its official launch Wednesday night, Thompson's campaign has raised more than $300,000 in Internet contributions as 110,000 people watched a video of his announcement.

Many in the audience Thursday said they had committed to Thompson before hearing him speak. And while some insisted that it was his record as a senator that sold them, others said they were wooed by his persona as a television actor or by what they saw as his similarities to President Reagan, who also had been an actor.

"I kind of fell in love with Mr. Thompson on the TV screen," said Caleb Christine, 26, a factory worker and Army reservist who served in Iraq. "I'm a definite 'Law & Order' fan."

Christine said he first became curious about Thomp son as a political figure when Thompson helped John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, win Senate confirmation.

"So all of my knowledge is pretty recent about him. But once I started reading more about him and studying more about him, I really just fell in love with the politics he's got, how confident he is and how straightforward he is with the public," he said.

Thompson indicated his support for continuing the war, saying, "If we show weakness and division, we will pay a heavy price for it in the future."

He spoke of how imperative it was to secure the nation's borders against illegal immigrants. He promised to nominate only the sort of federal judges who would strictly interpret the Constitution. He declared, "We still get our basic rights from God and not government."

[jedward]

Yowdy dc2k! Drive by to say hi, how ya doing?

[BfloGuy]

$300,000 a day with 300 fund raising days a year would leave him $10 million short.

Aw, heck. Let him raise funds the other 65 days, too. That should put him $10 million over.

[George W. Bush]

If he really needs 100 million in a year this needs to be a typical day not a good day. $300,000 a day with 300 fund raising days a year would leave him $10 million short.

He'll have some better fundraising days, no doubt.

I thought, reading here, that there was some huge pent-up demand for him declaring. $300,000 on his announcement day after a flurry of ads on FNC (and probably elsewhere), a good appearance on Leno to announce, all the positive media coverage he could ask for, well, I just assumed he'd raise like $5-$10 million on the first day, I guess.

While 300K is nothing to sneer at, I'd point out that at a fundraiser in TX at the straw poll, Dr. Paul raised $102,000 in one evening at a private home.

No doubt, Fred will raise some serious money. But I really did think he'd raise more than this after so much buildup. I wonder how the other candidates are doing in fundraising.

[George W. Bush]

I think it’s $100M to get the nomination only, not for the general election. In all likelihood, that much has to be raised in six months to cover the early primary season and the ad buys in the big states.

[Moonmad27]

He would have raised more money on his announcement day if his website hadn’t been too busy and some of us couldn’t get through - I speak from experience!

[Politicalmom]

There is no way anybody will have raised $100 million for the primaries.

Fundraising totals Jan-March: Romney $21 million; Giuliani $15 million, McCain $12.5 million

Fundraising totals (April-June):Rudy Giuliani $17 million, Mitt Romney $14 million, John McCain $11.2 million

[Seabee133]

I wish people would quit invoking the ghost of Reagan as a benchmark for our future candidates. Especially for a guy like Fred Thompson. Reagan is perhaps the greatest President since Theodore Roosevelt, it would be difficult and unfair to judge Thompson by Reagan’s example and comparing him to the man is setting him up for failure from the get go. Let Thompson blaze his own trails and you might be surprised by how credible and competent he is. So in closing “GO FRED GO!!”

[George W. Bush]

He would have raised more money on his announcement day if his website hadn’t been too busy and some of us couldn’t get through - I speak from experience!

Okay. But his staff should have been prepared for huge server/bandwidth demand. They've had huge prep and planning time, I think.

Of course, the first-day thing doesn't mean that much anyway. We'll see a lot more as he gets his website properly tuned and server load balanced. That's not rocket science. His 3Q fundraising report will be interesting to review.

[George W. Bush]

There is no way anybody will have raised $100 million for the primaries.

Well, Hitlery and Obama will if they haven't already raised that much.

I'm guessing our nominee will enter the primaries with $30-$50 million in January. You have to make a lot of media buys in expensive markets in short order. So they'll commit to big spending and ad buys but have less than half of it on hand when the primaries start. As more folks get serious about the primaries, the money will come pouring in to probably the top two or three candidates, most likely, Fred/Rudi/Mitt.

[deport]

About $9 million of Romney’s six month fundraising total is in personal loans.

[Bender2]

Re: Thompson campaign in fast lane...raises $300,000 on Internet in first day

Oh crap! That's... terrible!

At that slow rate... Fred will only raise $109,500,000 in the next year!

Large scan of above at my FR Homepage

[SuziQ]

I wouldn’t be hugely surprised if Zell endorsed Fred. He said earlier on that he was waiting to see his old friend get into the race.

I've thought all along that Fred could bring back those 'Reagan Democrats' that have been cool on the GOP for a while. With the choice between Fred or Her Heinous, I don't think they'll have a problem choosing Fred.