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Thompson Tanking in Futures Markets (Intrade, IEM)
Intrade; Iowa Electronic Markets ^ | October 31, 2008

Posted on 10/31/2007 1:17:10 PM PDT by Plutarch

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To: Kevmo

Oh, and probably most of the rest of the field is the new attention paid to Huckabee. At Intrade, Thompson is now within 1/2 a point of McCAin & Ron Paul, with Huckabee less than a point behind them.


101 posted on 10/31/2007 10:34:41 PM PDT by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
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Some previous market predictions. Sample from many.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1256068/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1266156/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504649/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1246264/posts


102 posted on 10/31/2007 10:48:57 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: Kevmo
LOL. C'mon, Kev, it's a penny a tick, a dime a point. That's like playin' poker for matchsticks.

With a hundred bucks to toss, you could turn the whole thing around.

It. Means. Nothing.

Take a look at Vegas odds...closer, but still, they aren't real. They're folks who are gamblers, most gamblers like the long odds.







The ones we all really need to work on are hildebeast and juliani.
103 posted on 10/31/2007 11:18:23 PM PDT by papasmurf (sudo apt - get install FRed Thompson)
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To: supercat
Does that mean the markets were right or wrong?

If you are convinced that Fred will be the nominee, here's a chance to take a lot of people's money. Go long on Fred.

104 posted on 11/01/2007 2:41:59 AM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: RockinRight

of course it can go up. There’s plenty of time. but the market is telling Fred he really needs to change


105 posted on 11/01/2007 3:24:23 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I am for traditional moral values, a strong national defense, and free markets.)
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To: alrea

Well, I know a lot of folks who are business people. MOST of them are Conservative, but there are a few around here that simply can’t get liberalism out of their heads — of course, they aren’t “rich” they will tell you. LOL


106 posted on 11/01/2007 6:42:48 AM PDT by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: ari-freedom
The market isn’t telling Fred anything and it isn’t telling the rest of us anything either. The only thing we can all conclude from the betting odds is that most people, including the professional commentators, know very little about American politics.

In Demcember of 2003 Howard Dean was trading in the 70’s on the IEM market. http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/media/12_10_03.html His nearest competitors were Wesley Clark and Hillary Clinton (who had already ruled out a 2004 candidacy.) John Kerry who, as some of you may recall, was fated to win the 2004 nomination and narrowly lose to President Bush, wasn’t selling at any price.

An open nomination contest is highly predictable, but not if you take polls and expert opinion from the usual suspects seriously as most of the bettors apparently do. Whatever the polls say you’re not likely to lose money betting that voters will opt for the candidate who is best positioned to take their party’s case to the electorate in a general election.

For the Democrats in 2004 that was John Kerry. He was antiwar enough for the rabid Dem base but conventional enough and with enough medals to persuade some gullible moderates and swing voters that he could be trusted to protect the nation.

For Republicans next year it’s Fred Thompson. Neither Giuliani nor Romney has the right history or ideological orientation to argue the Republican case. Of the serious candidates, only Fred is selling what the GOP wants to buy. Whatever the markets may say, he is therefore very likely to be the Republican nominee.

Wait a couple of weeks to see if the price gets a bit better and then bet the house limit on Fred.

107 posted on 11/01/2007 6:58:37 AM PDT by fluffdaddy (we don't need no stinking taglines)
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To: SuziQ
How about in the 2000 election?

I don't know if Intrade was even running 8 years ago.

108 posted on 11/01/2007 7:01:05 AM PDT by LexBaird (Behold, thou hast drinken of the Aide of Kool, and are lost unto Men.)
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To: fluffdaddy

it was Dean’s to lose. He had what dems were looking for until he went crazy.
Rudy’s strategy is to split the pro-life vote. He’ll continue to do that as long as romney, huckabee and mccain are in the race. Fred has to stand out a lot and Hunter isn’t making much of a difference so just being solid on the issues isn’t the most important factor.


109 posted on 11/01/2007 7:23:03 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I am for traditional moral values, a strong national defense, and free markets.)
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To: fluffdaddy

It won’t be in a couple of weeks, not Fred’s style.

We’ll be arguing this up to the last minute, with Fred in the “tank” according to all the “experts”, including the ones here. Then we will wake up and he has won by 20% because while we are all debating things, Fred will have gotten the votes that count, the ones that come from the voters...


110 posted on 11/01/2007 7:23:55 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (265 pound Lemming with attitude for Thompson!)
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To: ari-freedom
“It” was never Dean’s to lose. He didn’t have what the Dems were looking for because he was crazy, as well as visibly shallow even when he was trading at 77 on IEM. The shrewd observers knew it. None of the big Dem guns came out for Dean when he looked invincible except Al Gore, who’s political judgment is legendary, but not in a good way.

The moment when Dean went very publicly crazy and issued the scream heard round the world came after his candidacy had imploded with a third-place finish in Iowa.

The lesson of the 2004 Democrat nomination contest is that implausible candidates (Dean, Clark) can look very strong but that they ultimately obey the law of gravity and come crashing to earth. When they do, plausible candidates can come from nowhere (let alone second place) to win.

Everybody in the Republican field this year is an implausible candidate, except Fred. Giuliani is an authoritarian statist. Mitt is a managerial statist. Hucksterbee is a religious statist. McCain has no ideological compass at all. None of them makes any sense for a conservative party.

On this basis alone Fred stands out more than enough to win. Starting in Iowa, voters will makes sense out of the chaos and they’ll do it with surprising speed.

111 posted on 11/01/2007 7:53:30 AM PDT by fluffdaddy (we don't need no stinking taglines)
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To: ejonesie22
I didn’t mean to suggest that Fred will rocket to to the front in the next couple of weeks. On the contrary, I meant that in a couple of weeks we might see the best time to buy because his price may bottom out. I don’t expect to see evidence that Fred is pulling away until just before Iowa votes. You and I seem to have a very similar take on how the nomination contest is likely to shake out. I like Fred a lot, but I’m not a mindless cheerleader with grossly unrealistic expectations.
112 posted on 11/01/2007 7:59:15 AM PDT by fluffdaddy (we don't need no stinking taglines)
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To: fluffdaddy

so in other words, insider trading is essential for an efficient market...and the insiders were not for Dean.

how did Dole win the nomination in 96? couldn’t we compare phil graham to fred?


113 posted on 11/01/2007 8:08:44 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I am for traditional moral values, a strong national defense, and free markets.)
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To: ari-freedom

gramm


114 posted on 11/01/2007 8:09:27 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I am for traditional moral values, a strong national defense, and free markets.)
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To: fluffdaddy

Exactly, and good point. Maybe buy time next week, if you are into such. I gamble on stocks though.


115 posted on 11/01/2007 8:13:25 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (265 pound Lemming with attitude for Thompson!)
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To: O6ret
Haven't seen any leadership either.

He needs to get elected first. Sheesh.

116 posted on 11/01/2007 8:31:30 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: ari-freedom
Rudy’s strategy is to split the pro-life vote

Exactly.

It's frustrating to me that the Hunter/Paul/Huckabee/Tancredo folks can't or won't see through that strategy. By splitting up the conservative vote among several conservative candidates they're handing over the nomination to the man who will be most liberal RINO who has ever ran on the GOP ticket. I realize that Fred isn't as conservative as Hunter or some of the other also-rans. But he's far more so than either Rudy or Mitt, and unlike Hunter and the rest of the field he can win both the nomination and the main event if all the conservatives would just get on board and stop Rudy from walking away with the nomination by a plurality win but without the support of a large segment of the GOP base in the general election. AFAIC that situation would guarantee a Hillary win and the worst of all possible outcomes for the next two presidential terms.

Rudy can't beat Hillary without the support of virtually all the 25 million social conservatives who voted in '04 according to exit polls, and I don't believe that level of support will be there from the evangelical and devout Catholic vote bloc if Rudy is the nominee. Mitt would no doubt do better in that demographic sector, but still not well enough to win IMHO.

117 posted on 11/01/2007 8:34:19 AM PDT by epow
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To: FastCoyote

I am torn because if you hid all polls from me for the last year, and asked me who I liked, I would gravitate towards Hunter and Thompson. Then when you give me the poll data I am left with Thompson. Am I supposed to ignore my own subjective opinions of these people and just say “If the poll says he’s down this week, I should give up”? We are not day trading stocks here. There is plenty of time for Thompson to turn his numbers around, and his fundraising has put him in the ballpark of what he needed for Q307. My next consideration would be watching the next debate (November 6th?). Beyond that, all of this talk about polls is just noise.


118 posted on 11/01/2007 8:55:03 AM PDT by ReveBM
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To: ari-freedom
No, insider trading isn’t required for an efficient market, efficiency is. To have an efficient market you need rational buyers and my point is that the buyers aren’t rational at all. It isn’t that the information isn’t generally available to make rational choices, it is just that most people can’t process it. The history of the Democrat race in 2003-04 should be enough to prove my point.

Dole won the nomination in 1996 much as Fred is likely to win it this year. He was the last man standing when all the implausibles (Steve Forbes, Lamar!, Pat Buchanan)were eliminated. Dole had the added advantage of being the early favorite and therefore the default nominee absent the rise of a strong challenger. This year there really is no early favorite because the only legacy candidate, John McCain is a nonstarter.

Poor Phil Gramm was just the best-heeled implausible in 1996. He ran a dismal campaign which focused on his principal area of expertise and interest — economics, and failed to stake out any clear ground in other areas of importance to voters. He and Steve Forbes duked it out to see who would be Mr. Fiscal Conservative in the race. Forbes won. Gramm was gone after his fifth place finish in Iowa.

Fred’s hard-hitting clarity (consider his remarks yesterday about Hillary’s driver’s licenses for illegals gaff) makes him something of an Anti-Gramm. Unlike Gramm he is staking out clear, compelling positions on all the questions likely to drive voting behavior next year. More importantly, unlike Gramm he has no plausible competition.

Put your money on Fred. The long odds are gravy.

119 posted on 11/01/2007 8:57:20 AM PDT by fluffdaddy (we don't need no stinking taglines)
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To: fluffdaddy

The buyers aren’t rational? They are putting money at risk for nothing?

Dole didn’t have to do anything except be the early favorite and just watch everyone else fight each other. That’s what Rudy is doing.


120 posted on 11/01/2007 9:06:51 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I am for traditional moral values, a strong national defense, and free markets.)
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