Posted on 01/03/2008 6:09:51 AM PST by jdm
The Politico predicts that Fred will drop out of the race if he doesn't come up with a strong showing in Iowa this evening. Fred replies that it's just a nasty rumor to discredit him in upcoming states:
Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.
Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured.
This reality—combined with a fundraising drought—left well-connected friends and advisers of Thompson Wednesday evening predicting that he will pull the plug on hype and hope before the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.
Fred replied:
"That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth," said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
Thompson said a rival campaign was likely the source of that rumor. "Can you imagine such a thing in politics?" he asked.
Two items have sparked these rumors. First, the surprise announcement that Thompson needed a blogburst to run ads in Iowa exposed the campaign's bare warchest. They need a strong finish in Iowa to convince donors to keep the flow of money up to a high enough level to buy ad time in South Carolina, where Fred has more strength. Second, Fred Thompson himself oddly raised expectations by saying he needed a second-place finish in tonight's caucuses, a scenario that seems rather fantastic. A strong third would help, but not if the candidate himself believes he needs to place second or first.
However, the rumors are most likely false. In this primary race, almost everyone should be able to make it to February 5th, when 23 states will go all at once. Why drop out within just a few weeks of the Super Tuesday primaries, where a couple of states could keep the candidacy viable? No one candidate has enough draft to force anyone else out.
In this case, Fred has a shot at South Carolina, at least for a second-place finish. He could also do well in Florida, although that seems less likely at the moment. He has no reason to bail out of the race before then, and the next week will be the Super Tuesday primaries. Unless he really runs completely out of cash, he has no compelling reason to withdraw.
So the story probably reflects nothing but rumor and speculation, although it's hard to understand why competing campaigns would bother with directing any of it towards Thompson. At least for now, he isn't anyone's bete noir. It looks more like the uncontrollable urge to commit punditry on the eve of the first real test of the candidates. (via Rick Moran)
I’ve watched this closely and I can’t figure out this media bias for certain candidates. What’s the deal? Even FOX is turning traitorous?
They distorted his announcement and used it to support another distorted rumor. Sounds about par for the course.
It'd just a collective mind-set that they have...lemmings. FOX has gone off the liberal deep end. I have stopped watching them completely. I barely watch TV news, and I'm all the more insightful as a result. I read on-line, talk radio, and occasionally a debate or press conference (without the before or after media spin). It makes a difference. I think it clears up confusion.
That headline would have worked better if his name were Frankie.
Care to back that claim up with cash? I’ve got a c-note that says you;re full of beans.
I'm with ya. Been on this board about the same amount of time as you and I still can't figure out why Iowa walks on water politically.
Yeah... I suppose. I keep the news on in the background at work, because I can get something breaking quicker on Fox most of the time than even here. When it breaks here and not on FOX it’s local to someone and it hasn’t hit the wires yet.
I don’t listen to the news to “who to vote for” contrary to what many people do.
My dad, who is 71, called the other day to ask what I thought of some of the Republican candidates. I asked “Why, aren’t you voting for Hillary Clinton?”
He laughed and said “I wouldn’t vote for that commie ‘B***h if she were the ONLY woman on earth”.
I asked him about “Obama”, and he said he wouldn’t voting democrat OR Islam this time around. He liked Huckabee for some reason, and I told him I was planning on both voting for Fred Thompson and helping him if he sticks it out.
Dad didn’t like him on TV. I told him “I don’t watch TV” (someone mentioned his character in one of threads recently and I didn’t know his character name on Law and Order. I ONLY know he was on that show, never saw it). I don’t base my decisions on how good an actor someone is, rather whether they have the common sense God gave a goose. He promised to look into Fred.
Dad is a life long Democrat and is 71 now. I told him even old dogs can gain experience and learn new tricks. haha
But, it’s amazing to hear people talk. A daughter of mine said she was voting for Hillary Clinton “because she is a woman”. I asked what issues Hillary covered that concerned her the most. “Free heath care”.
I laughed. She, her husband and their babies are living in MY home because they can’t afford anything, and lost their last apartment because they couldn’t make the rent. I couldn’t let them live on the streets on in a tent (which they did for about a week before I knew it). But they only know what their friends tell them or what they watch on TV. They don’t do RESEARCH at all so I suspect that there are MANY people in their early 20s to mid 30s that are completely clueless about elections.
This is why I’m at such a loss as to why ALL the candidates aren’t covered.
No that’s straight from the Huckleberry camp. I would expect after Iowa that the Huckster will disappear before Fred. At any rate all this talk about people dropping out is ludicrous. Feb. 5th is the date most candidates who going to drop will. that’s just a month off, why would anyone spend all this money and devote all this energy and not hold on another month.
Unfortunately he’s surging in the wrong direction.
I WILL say, if Fred actually would endorse McCain, there wouldn't be a name for the fury I would feel against Thompson.
“That idiotic Politico hit job even concluded that Fred would throw his support behind McCain before South Carolina, where Fred has been leading”
The most recent poll of the ones collected on Real Clear Politics where Thompson led in South Carolina (well was tied for the lead) was the 20th November. Since mid-December he’s been polling 4th or 5th and double digits off the lead.
I would say Romney’s the one going in the wrong direction. I don’t see him coming out of Iowa with much to brag about. He out spent every one at least 10-1 and a yokel from Arkansas is neck and neck with him. Not much of a return for 6-8 million and having been up 15-20 points at one time.
Are you for real?
His ROI is about to be his undoing....
Here we go again...
Fact one: Fred is not going to drop out, indeed he just completed paperwork for Texas. He is not broke, nor will he be, though things will “look” tight for him. He is in this for a reason, and his entry was not some fluke.
Fact two: McCain is not going to make it, so he is off the table. The GOP is not going to risk him coming unglued in the General. Even if he does well, there will be a little “meeting”.
Fact three: Mitt maybe in trouble unless he decimates the competition in the first primaries, by significant amounts which is not looking like a possibility at all. His “cost per vote” is way beyond manageable for the GOP money boys and the fact he has had to retake the same ground several times for even more cost is not lost on them either.
Fact four: Huck has no fans among the GOP higher ups.
This thing ain’t near over, and there is more at play here than meets the eye.
Do we have a wager?
That’s correct. You can ONLY hope, cause it ain’t going to happen.
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