Posted on 01/08/2008 1:41:44 PM PST by barryg
It takes a "Law & Order"-style investigation to find Fred Thompson on the campaign trail.
The lawyer/actor-turned-presidential candidate has been raising eyebrows for months with his unconventional approach to Campaign 2008. He participated in Saturday's ABC News debate and Sunday's Fox News candidates forum, but unlike every other candidate stumping for votes in the precious few days between Thursday's Iowa caucuses and today's New Hampshire primary, Thompson has been remarkable for his low profile.
"He's done a terrible job of acting in this campaign," said Diane Owen, an associate professor of political science at Georgetown University.
There are no big Thompson rallies such as the ones Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama held in the Granite State during the weekend. There's no "Straight Talk Express" like John McCain, who has been leading the polls here. And Hollywood hasn't come to New Hampshire to campaign with Thompson, like Chuck Norris has with Mike Huckabee or Wilford Brimley for McCain or Viggo Mortensen for Dennis Kucinich.
There wasn't one public event listed in the Manchester Union Leader, the state's mega-politics paper, for Thompson during the weekend. And around media circles, his camp has put out word that he's not going to be campaigning much.
Thompson had certified conservative credibility in a race that has shown a growing split in the GOP between religious and traditional conservatives. But ever since last year, when he appeared on "Fox News Sunday" to talk about a possible run for the presidency and later filed an exploratory committee, Thompson has been more anti-candidate than candidate.
It's that kind of attitude -- out of the norm for presidential candidates -- that has made many veteran political watchers and journalists scratch their heads and wonder what he's doing.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
LLS
Do you have an understanding problem?
If you go back even three months you will see as many or more campaign stops for Thompson as the others. What you will not see is any coverage of them.
See, that’s the problem; a savy candidate and/or campaign manager would know how to generate excellent coverage for him. The coverage might not all be “good”, but no coverage is bad coverage, in some ways. You’d think with all the contacts Fred and his wife have, that they’d be able to keep him in the headlines, but they haven’t.
Having a winning message is only 1/2 the battle; for instance, Ron Paul and Kucinich (sp?) have similar, fringe messages, and both are polling very poorly, since neither have a message that can win. Ron Paul however, love him or not, has an absolutely incredible campaign machine to market his message, and obviously has been able to garner a lot of money and free publicity as a result. Of course, he won’t win since he doesn’t have a winning message.
I’ve been a supporter of Fred even before he officially announced, but he’s done a horrible job of marketing himself; hopefully he/we can turn things around before it’s too late.
Fred has to come in first or second in South Carolina.
Thank you!!! :-)
LLS
Join FR 18 days ago, slam Fred and use Reuters for a linkback.
That’s not limburger cheese I’m smelling, but something stinks here.
Fred needs to win SC to get some of that “surge” free publicity.
More reporting bubbling up from the sewer.
Why do people attack new members as newbies? Disagree with his post and his points, but everyone is a newbie to someone else.
If he cares so little about Delaware that he can't even take help, that was offered, to get 500 signatures, that is pathetic. The campaign actually expected supporters to come to the Headquarters if they wanted to sign the petition!
If he is "writing off" Delaware, which is his decision, why bother to have a campaign headquarters to begin with.
If I was a donor from Delaware I wouldn't be happy with the allocation of resources.
Who’s Hunter?????????????????????
Jason Bonham is connected to that story.
In other words, beware the details and facts.
Voters like you make me ashamed that I supported Duncan. Of course it’s not Duncan’s fault that half his supporters are completely nuts. Why do Duncan supports insist on attacking Fred? If you combine their totals they are still in 4th place! How can you somehow believe that Fred is sucking the conservative life out of Duncan. He’s never been out of the Margin of error for a YEAR. If Fred got out tomorrow, and EVERY FRED SUPPORTER went to Duncan, IT’S STILL 4th PLACE. ATTACK FRED WHEN DUNCAN AND FRED ARE THE LAST TWO STANDING. The problem isn’t Fred’s 11%, the problem is that RINOS have 80% of the vote locked up!
It’s difficult to trust anything connected to Jason Bonham.
Didn’t Barry OD on cocaine?
He should be in New Hampshire where the cameras are. How can we trust he can beat a democrat in the general election when you look at his numbers within the GOP?
And this comes from a Fred Thompson supporter about to jump ship after the New Hampshire results.
Sure, Fred came into this totally blind. *snort*
As Fred said at the beginning, this isn't his first time at the rodeo. He knew exactly what was coming.
“I’ve been a supporter of Fred even before he officially announced, but he’s done a horrible job of marketing himself; hopefully he/we can turn things around before it’s too late.”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Thompson could have had a better campaign, and you’re an honest FredHead to recognize it (many dont admit it). After all, he’d be the frontrunner, soaking up major slices of other candidates’ voting pool, if his campaign was top-notch.
“Having a winning message is only 1/2 the battle”
Fred failed 1st in failing to lock up the socon vote, and he did it due to his nonchalant dismissiveness towards key litmus test issues - like FMA, Shaivo, and his answers on MTP in early November. I honestly think that if Fred had (a) jumped in earlier (like July) and (b) paid close attention to those issues and voters, Huckabee would be at 3% and Fred would have major sectors of the conservative coalition locked down.
Fred failed second in his press relations. Many little things - Thompson campaign hired someone from Fox, then promptly dumped him, making him unemployed after they gave up a good job to help him. People think Fox has a bias against Thompson? Maybe there’s a personal reason for it.
Campaigns all have their foibles, but if Thompson started earlier, he would have been able to work out the kinks in time and ‘warm up’. He’s been getting better, but he’s run out of runway before he could take off.
Fred has the makings of a good consensus candidate; when the worst they have on you is your campaign isn’t the best, you ain’t so bad.
As it is, Mitt Romney is IMHO the best candidate in the remainder of the field. Either we support him, or we get McCain or Huckabee who IMHO are both much worse as choices.
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