Poll finds Thompson appeals to churchgoers

Fred Thompson may have failed to impress Beltway insiders when he finally launched his run for the White House last month, but he is winning over a critical segment of the Republican coalition, new polling suggests.

Conservative Christians favor Thompson by a 10-point margin over his closest rival, Rudy Giuliani.

It’s a sharp reversal for Giuliani. The putative GOP front-runner had been winning social conservative backing despite his history of support for abortion rights and gay rights.

Giuliani leads Thompson 29 percent to 21 percent among Republicans generally, the new national CBS News poll suggests.

But weekly Republican churchgoers back Thompson by a margin of 29 percent to 19 percent for Giuliani — roughly tying John McCain.

That means that despite criticism of Thompson for his subdued speeches, his pregnant pauses and his lackluster launch, the Tennessean is succeeding in courting the very base of support his campaign targeted from the outset – the Christian conservatives who have been the largest and most active bloc of the GOP for a generation.

Friday, Thompson joined fellow Republican candidates at the Family Research Council summit in Washington, a convention of thousands of conservative Christian activists.

Thompson emphasized his support for conservative judges and his “100 percent pro-life voting record” as part of his none too subtle message that he is a “consistent conservative.”

For weeks Thompson has been on the attack against Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has been wooing social conservatives as well.

From the first thread I listed:

A charge often floated by Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul supporters goes something like this: “Fred Thompson is no conservative.” This one is laughable because Thompson is easily the most consistent conservative of the “Big Four” first-tier GOP candidates. It is made more laughable because Hunter and Paul, despite being in the race for months, have failed to gain any traction with voters. Let the debunking begin!

California Conservative looks back 44 years to when Fred first became a conservative:

Fred Thompson is a Barry Goldwater movement conservative. After reading Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative” in 1963, he promptly became the first Republican in his family.
Sen. Goldwater’s book made quite the impression on young Fred Thompson. Bill Kirkland, who studied law with Thompson recalled:

“He was a very conservative Republican even then. He was a huge supporter of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.”
Though he was a reliable conservative as a Senator, Thompson was also a Federalist. Fred’s devotion to the principles laid down by founder James Madison would occasionally distinguish him from the pack. Michael D. Tanner of the Cato Institute observes:

During his eight years in the Senate, Thompson had a solid record as a fiscal conservative. The National Taxpayers Union gives him the third highest marks of any candidate (trailing only Paul and Rep. Tom Tancredo)...
He has been a consistent supporter of entitlement reform, voting to means-test Medicare and supporting personal accounts for Social Security.

His record on free trade is solid. In the past he has been supportive of comprehensive immigration reform, but has been critical of the current bill, shifting toward a “control the borders first” position...

On federalism, there may be no better candidate. His Senate record is replete with examples of his being the lone opponent of legislation that he thought undercut federalist principles. He took this position even on legislation that was otherwise supported by conservatives...

Given the fact that McCain, Romney, and Giuliani are clearly big-government conservatives, Thompson has an opportunity to seize the small-government mantle.

Despite the fact that Thompson always put Federalist principles first, his conservative credentials are impressive. Mike Allen of The Politico revealed that in 2000:

Thompson got a 92 percent favorable rating from the American Conservative Union and a zero from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.
More on Fred’s ACU ratings from Human Events’ John Gizzi:

Tom Griscom, editor and publisher of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times-Free Press... told me: ““Look, a lot of people call him a centrist because his introduction to politics was via Howard Baker. He’s actually a lot more conservative than people realize...” With a lifetime rating of 86% from the American Conservative Union over his eight years in the Senate (1994-2002), Thompson’s record in the Senate, with few exceptions, was rather solidly conservative. His breaks from the right were almost all related to campaign finance reform issues and to tort reform.
David Keene, the leader of the American Conservative Union considers Fred Thompson to be a solid conservative. Keene told CBS News:

“I like Fred Thompson. He was a capable senator. He is a good communicator. I disagree with him on some things, but in our ratings — I don’t have the exact number in front of me, but I think during his career in the Senate he was in the mid to upper ‘80s, which we consider solidly conservative.”
The Washington Post’s political blogger Chris Cillizza says that Thompson should be conservative enough for all but the most rabid right-wing zealots:

While he was never a leading social conservative voice in the Senate, Thompson’s voting record during his eight years in Washington should be acceptable to anyone to the ideological right. Thompson was rated highly by conservative groups during his time in office, and surely won loyalty from conservatives when he squired Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts around Capitol Hill during his 2005 confirmation process.
A political analyst and former Democrat insider says Fred Thompson is a solid conservative who will be a formidable candidate for president in 2008, as Chad Groening reported in the Agape Press:

Political analyst Keith Thompson says his namesake reminds him of Ronald Reagan. “He has a solid conservative voting record on issues of life, on issues of international security and national defense, the terrorism issue, the war,” says the analyst, concluding with the observation: “I don’t know of an issue that he has fallen short of in the broadly defined sort of ‘Reaganesque’ conservative mantle.”
Fred Thompson’s conservatism is the kind that many independents and Reagan Democrats will find attractive, given the alternative of the MoveOn.org liberalism of the likely Democrat nominee. Blogger Michael Bednarz explains:

Fred Thompson vs. the current crop of Republican candidates is like the children’s story where the three little bears find one bed too soft, one too hard, (and) unlike the current front runners Fred is “Just Right” to most conservatives on the issues. More so than any other candidate, and with the integrity of principled conviction on those issues.
I asked a very liberal acquaintance of mine recently that is an insider with Democrat Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington that I have friendly political discussions with for his response to 3 words: *Fred Dalton Thompson* ....a serious look formed instantly on his face and he said: “I like Fred, he would be a serious candidate for you guys, I might even have to vote for him because he is one of the most genuine and real politicians I have ever seen. I have a lot of respect for him and he would make a good President.” I was dumbfounded because we had talked about other candidates before and I am convinced of his sincerity.

Indeed, for movement conservatives who are serious about taking back the Executive Branch from the current big government, big spending, porous borders crowd, it all boils down to this: Which conservative has the best chance of not only securing the Republican party’s presidential nomination, but also defeating the liberal Democrat nominee in the General Election?
The answer to that question is perhaps best summarized on the conservative blog Let Freedom Ring:

While Sen. Thompson uses the tools that technology made available to him, his beliefs are definitely old school. He’d appoint strict constructionist justices to the Supreme Court. He’s an old-fashioned Barry Goldwater libertarian. He’s a strong advocate of JFK’s, Reagan’s and President Bush’s tax cuts. He’s on the record as saying that he’d resurrect a Reaganesque communications system to topple the Iranian mullahs, Hugo Chavez and Kim Jung Il.(Think Radio Free Persia instead of Radio Free Europe.)
That’s the type of combination that we’ll need to defeat Democrats in 2008. Thus far, Thompson’s the only person out there that’s using the total package. He’s also the only person with a true movement conservative background, which means that there’s an underlying philosophy guiding his beliefs. I can’t say that about Gov. Romney or Sen. McCain. That isn’t a small thing for GOP primary voters.

It’s time to realize that Fred Thompson is the guy who is best equipped to defeat Hillary in November, 2008.

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