Posted on 01/14/2008 8:22:59 AM PST by jellybean
<Backers urge Thompson to 'get rough' January 14, 2008
By Stephen Dinan - MONCKS CORNER, S.C. — The hottest topic among South Carolina Republicans right now is the fire in Fred Thompson's belly.
Unlike the other candidates who still are trying to convince voters of their philosophy and credentials, Mr. Thompson finds his biggest challenge is trying to convince voters he's serious enough about his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. It's a curious position for a candidate to be in — one where his supporters seem to want him to want it more than he does.
"Get rough, Fred, get rough," shouted one woman at the beginning of a town-hall meeting Friday at Gilligan's, a restaurant in Moncks Corner.
"South Carolina is yours for the asking," Jerry Wolf, a retired government employee, told him during the question-and-answer period. "We're asking you to step up to the plate and go for our hearts."
Mr. Thompson, who is in the middle of a bus tour of South Carolina, is trying to do just that.
He needs to have a strong showing here after he took third place in Iowa's caucuses with 13 percent of the vote, but trailed badly in New Hampshire, winning just 1 percent of the vote. He is ignoring Michigan's primary tomorrow and directing all his efforts here — a place he tells voters he considers home territory, as a former senator from Tennessee.
Mr. Thompson tells his supporters he's going to keep going at his own pace, and he continues to criticize the television ads and short debate answers that dominate the back-and-forth among the candidates.
"It didn't used to be about 'fire in the belly,' " he said.
Fred Thompson counting on gun owners in S.C. By Chad D. Baus
The Politico.com is reporting that Fred Thompson is looking to gun owners to deliver a high-profile victory to boost his presidential campaign.
The article observes that Second Amendment advocates have struggled to find a champion of their own in the Republican presidential primary field, and says that with the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary fast approaching, gun owners appear to be lining up behind their ally, Thompson.
Thompson chose to skip the New Hampshire primary in order to give early and heavy focus on South Carolina. The former Tennessee senator returned to South Carolina to campaign on Tuesday, January 8 (even before the polls closed in the Granite State) and won’t leave until Saturday's Palmetto State primary.
From the story:
"Early, I aligned myself with the McCain campaign based on the total package of issues, including his military experience," said Republican state Rep. Mike Pitts, the local gun advocates' go-to legislator in the state capital.Grant told Politico that he’s leaning toward Thompson, hasn’t completely ruled out Huckabee, and "laughed at" an overture from Giuliani, who as mayor backed a lawsuit against New York gun manufacturers that is still in litigation and remains an unforgivable sin among gun advocates.But now, "if I were to actively campaign for someone, it would either be Fred Thompson or Mike Huckabee."...
...According to a study conducted for Pitts, roughly 40 percent of the state’s population have hunting or fishing licenses or belong to a Second Amendment advocacy groups in the state.
Most of those voters also count themselves as Republicans, so they “make up a large part of the voting population in the primary,” said Jeff Sadosky, a Thompson campaign spokesman.
A visit to the annual Ellett Brothers gun show offers easy evidence of the gun advocates' unease and what Thompson hopes is his last, best opportunity to stay in the 2008 race.
The sprawling show on the state fair grounds outside Columbia drew more than 300 gunmakers from as far away as China and hundreds more attendees who are gun dealers and shop owners.
F. Hewitt Grant, the grandfatherly president of Ellett Brothers gun manufacturing, lords over the event as he strolls through a crowd of more than 800 people attending a post-show beef and ham dinner and silent auction.
They’re clad in jeans and vests and concealed weapons, a fact casually noted by several diners.
Again, from the story:
McCain, who wandered off the pro-gun reservation in the late 1990s by supporting gun control but has now come back to the fold, “wavers” too much, says Grant.The article reports that the Thompson campaign is hoping to marry the gun owners’ support with backing from social conservatives and pro-military activists.As for Romney, who signed gun control legislation while governor, Grant playfully loads on the Southern drawl and simply says: "He's from Massachusetts."
Grant likes Thompson because of his support for the Second Amendment and his foreign policy experience, a depth of experience that Grant thinks Huckabee lacks.
Beyond those two contenders, though, "I don’t see any other candidate, point blank," he adds.
Gerald Stoudemire, president of the Gun Owners of South Carolina, has made a similar assessment.
He met with Thompson in late November and early December when the presidential hopeful campaigned at a gun show and several gun shops. "He’s been so solid as the Second Amendment person," said Stoudemire.
At his Little Mountain Gun & Supply store, Stoudemire talks up the Thompson candidacy to his customers, and he's likely to take a more public position in support of him.
The gun owners' association vice president, Neil F. Beers Jr., is also a Thompson supporter, although he’s still sizing up Huckabee.
As for the other candidates, Stoudemire ticks their names off and comes to the same conclusion with each: "He’s off my list."
The story concludes:
The calculations being made in South Carolina by gun rights advocates follow similar deliberations that went on among gun owners in Iowa and New Hampshire.The rank and file has been left largely on their own because the NRA, itself, is struggling with how to manage a field filled with front-runners with tainted records.
The NRA weeks ago released a Democratic voter guide that made clear that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had the best record on gun issues.
But they have yet to offer a similar guide for the Republican field, even though all of the first primary states are home to significant numbers of Second Amendment activists.
“We are inching towards making some kind of determination,” said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
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Does this mean he’s going to take on the front runner?...Mc Cain!
FYI
Florida Polls are officially open today for early voting.
Rasmussen lists Thompson in 5th in a 1st place four way tie.
IOW People need to get their friends etc. to the voting stations NOW BEFORE the primary official date.
Probably not. The record of a state governor is much easier pickings than that of a fellow Washington insider. I think Huckabee had it right: they'd all be calling Reagan a liberal if they were running against him now.
Thompson's attacks on Huckabee while ignoring McCain is just another example of an impotently-run campaign. He may be taking votes away from Huckabee but they're probably all just going to McCain now.
I think he’s just being a “stalking horse for Mc Cain”, but I will take that back and apologize if he DOESN’T withdraw and endorse Mc Cain after SC.
FYI, Polls in South Alabama (Mobile and Baldwin Counties only) will be open for early voting on Jan 30, due to Feb 5th being Mardi Gras Day (Fat Tuesday).
In Baldwin County you can vote early at the Foley Civic Center from 7am to 7pm on Jan 30.
Not sure where early voting will take place in Mobile County.
I Mobile County, you can vote tiher on January 30th or February 5th (Fat Tuesday) at your regular polling place.
Fred Thompson: Moncks Corner, SC- 01/11/08 Fred Thompson holds a townahall at Gilligan's Restaraunt in Moncks Corner, S.C.
This post of yours is the same on every Fred thread. You are 'Repeat'ing McCain propaganda. I am married to an Old Retired Army Guy (Special Forces officer), and he would not exhibit this kind of behavior.
TAB
Due to party-imposed sanctions, at the National Conventions none of Florida’s Democratic delegates and only half the Republicans will count because the Florida Legislature moved their Primary to January 29 from March. - TAB
http://www.meerlytalking.com/r4day0114.JPG
Taking Rasmussen’s four day averages and averging four of them, yields my little trend chart. Not perfect, but slowly starting to move nationally.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR BLITZ 4 FRED!
Time is short to get letters sent off to South Carolina newspapers before Saturday. Based on experience, my guess is that Tuesday might be the very last day these can be sent off in time.
Most if not all of these require your name, address and phone number, for publication, with limits of 200-300 words.
Aiken Standard http://www.aikenstandard.com/2007redesign/opinion/letter.php
Anderson Independent-Mail letters@independentmail.com
Beaufort Gazette letters@beaufortgazette.com
Bluffton Today http://www.blufftontoday.com/editor “Preference will be given to letters with fewer than 200 words.”
Charleston City Paper editor@charlestoncitypaper.com
Charleston Post and Courier barbara@postandcourier.com
Cheraw Chronicle http://www.thecherawchronicle.com/forms/letters/
Chester News & Reporter editor@onlinechester.com
Clover Herald http://www.carolinanewspapers.com/staticContent/letter/
Columbia - the State stateeditor@thestate.com (the ones who just endorsed McCain)
Ft. Mill Times news@fortmilltimes.com
Greenville News http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CUSTOMERSERVICE03
Greenwood Index-Journal bcollins@indexjournal.com
Hartsville Messenger graham@hartsvillemessenger.com
Hilton Head - Island Packet letters@islandpacket.com
Lake Wylie Pilot news@lakewyliepilot.com “If you email, please include “Letter to the Editor” in the subject box.”
Lancaster News editor@thelancasternews.com
Rock Hill Herald https://www.formrouter.net/online01@HERAL/lettertoeditor.html
Spartanburg Herald-Journal Opinion@shj.com
Sumter Item letters@theitem.com
I’m making it a point to get letters out to all these papers by TONIGHT and I hope others here will join me.
thread bump!
Maybe you’re just reevaluating your appetite for large portions of crow.
LOL!
I think Fred will score in the top three in South Carolina!
Anyone else?
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