Fred is still my choice and I believe he will be the choice of Conservatives. Be patient...he just got started. Look at all the polls; he is second or third in almost all of them (RealClearPolitics). Not that far off Rudy Nationally and not that far off Romney in Iowa. I'm still delighted with my choice. God Speed Fred!
You said: “Romney is just not real.” Wow, his wife and family would probably be surprised to find out that he is not real. You know, that is a really silly statement.
And as for Fred Thompson, the more people see him and hear him, the more unimpressed they are. Why else do you think he cancels appearances, won’t talk to reporters after his campaign stops and really doesn’t even want to talk to the people he speaks to? His campaign is terrified he is going to continue to make gaffes, so they are keeping him safe.
I think you will be disappointed when Conservatives do not make Fred Thompson their choice.
Atlanta claims that if their drought continues they'll run out of water in 80 days. Iowa votes in 75 days... Fred is running out of time to get started. Patience is hard to sell when we were told he didn't need to start with the rest of the candidates because he'd come out like at cat 5 political hurricane when he finally did start. It is hard to accurately judge candidate strength prior to actual voting, but if you accepted the claims of his fans Fred should have been singing in the rain today at this event. Instead the rains skipped Fred today and Mitt and Mike are dancing.
As a separate issue the size of Huckabee's seemingly large win amongst those onsite has been challenged www.evangelicalsformitt.com. They claim many pro-Romney attendees were told to cast their votes online so as to avoid the long lines to vote onsite and potential missed votes. This might just be a groundless political claim, but it might be confirmable. From the way they conducted their online voting the FRC probably could cross index online (and mail in) votes with their list of those attending and produce a vote total of those who attended regardless of where they voted. I have no idea whether they will try to do so, but with sufficient interest and some time they probably could. I have no idea as to the size of any candidate's "offsite, but attended" vote total, but I can say that as a Romney organizational ploy having some do this rings true. At the Iowa straw poll Romney was very organized in getting his supporters to vote before they did anything else, presumably to avoid both non-votes and converts to other candidates. Telling Romney leaning attendees to vote online in advance of hearing the competition would be consistent.