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Thompson plans to go on to Florida
Boston Globe ^ | 1/19/08 | Joe Williams

Posted on 01/19/2008 12:42:00 PM PST by pissant

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Fred Thompson, trailing Mike Huckabee and John McCain in the polls, will continue his presidential bid even if he finishes third in today's South Carolina primary, his campaign said.

Thompson, who had talked of South Carolina as his last stand, appeared this afternoon at a gun show in a suburban Shriners' auditorium -- a natural fit given his strong support of the Second Amendment right to own firearms. Several patrons wore "Fred '08" stickers on their clothing; as Thompson swept into the packed hall he was greeted by a modest round of applause.

"Go, Fred!" one woman shouted.

"How we doin'?" Thompson asked, greeting passers-by as he walked along the narrow aisles displaying hunting scopes and high-tech shotguns. He shook hands, paused for autographs, and posed for photos snapped on cell phones.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; election; elections; fl2008; fred; fredthompson; sc2008
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To: Bizhvywt
“If Fred can’t win in SC, where can he win?”

At the convention. It's pretty obvious by now -- that's where/when the GOP nominee will be picked.

221 posted on 01/19/2008 2:40:27 PM PST by Sandy (Apology demanders suck.)
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To: SuziQ

IA & SC won’t cut it.
He needs large states. My county has the population of IA.
He can’t win CA, NY, NJ, PA, OH, Michg., Wisc, TX, Ill.,
etc, and no other Repo can either.


222 posted on 01/19/2008 2:40:44 PM PST by SoCalPol (Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

I made no comment on states he did run in. Thanks for playing.

p.s. Still no way in hell Mitten Luther is getting my vote...:)


223 posted on 01/19/2008 2:41:40 PM PST by Khepri (Fred Thompson, he's a hundred miles away son - READY TO STRIKE!)
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To: Yaelle
It was pretty close to a pure endorsement, as some may not even have realized he was reading from another’s words.

I should have said it's like "reading the stitches on a slow hanging curveball".

224 posted on 01/19/2008 2:43:17 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made." Groucho Marx)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

They won’t do a formal endorsement, they don’t have to. But both specifically called for SC to vote Fred. That’s close enough for me.

Of course, I disagree with both.


225 posted on 01/19/2008 2:43:57 PM PST by pissant (Duncan Hunter: Warrior, Statesman, Conservative)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan
"It's a very dynamic and fluid race. Fred is betting that his steady eddy campaign will win out in the end."

What is striking is that before he jumped into the race, the idea of Fred as a candidate was more attractive than the reality of Fred as a candidate now. He was running ahead of everyone before he joined the race. Now, his poll numbers have been dreary.

We'll see what happens tonight in SC. Last stand or not, South Carolina will be an important bellwether concerning the viability of the Thompson campaign.

226 posted on 01/19/2008 2:45:54 PM PST by CASchack
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To: epow
there are a few things in his Senate record that I don't like, such as his support and vote for McCain's unconstitutional Incumbent Protection Act aka CFR.

That grew out of his disgust at the corruption in campaign financing that he saw from x42's runs for office, and from some problems with some Republicans as well. He wanted to clean up the financing mess, and make the process of funding candidates more accessible to the average voter. He believed that those voters were being marginalized by the big money bundling and foreign money coming into the campaigns. He saw that half the country didn't bother to vote, and believed that putting some integrity back into the process would go a long way toward making sure those voters didn't believe they were disenfranchised.

He's stated that he didn't agree with the way the legislation has been interpreted and put into use.

227 posted on 01/19/2008 2:46:09 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: WildcatClan
He didn’t say, “last” but the last line surely leads you to that conclusion or at the very least, could.

If one were inclined to think that, maybe, but I didn't interpret it that way.

228 posted on 01/19/2008 2:47:30 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: Khepri
You prove my point coward. I consider you nailed. Grow some and make a stand.

Ahh, now that's the sort of intelligent, classy repartee we've come to grow so fond of here!

229 posted on 01/19/2008 2:48:38 PM PST by arturo ("A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." - G.K. Chesterton)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

“Some seem to be staking a hope on a brokered convention, with Thompson being the candidate “acceptable” to everybody.”

Why would they pick Thompson his delegate count would be almost nothing. It seems pretty obvious to anybody not a Fred Head, but voting Americans don’t seem very interested in Fred. Even GOP voters don’t seem very interested in Fred.
How in the heck would a brokered convention help Fred. I keep seeing his supporters push this scenario calling him the best one to unify the GOP, but IMHO if he ran a presidential campaign like he’s ran his primary campaign, he’d get rolled. Surely the GOP leadership knows this.


230 posted on 01/19/2008 2:49:49 PM PST by snarkybob (')
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To: GovernmentIsTheProblem

“If Fred can’t win in SC, where can he win?
You can’t get the nomination in Tennessee alone.”

I expect Fred to come in first or second in South Carolina. We all need to remember that this primary race has just begun! Many folks are not like us, and they are just now starting to take a look at the candidates. The more people learn about the candidates, the more they will turn to Fred! Even if by chance Fred comes in third, he is still in this race. I don’t have info on past elections, but I do know that President bush did not win the first several primary states and still won the nomination in the end. I will wait on the results from the folks in SC. GO FRED!


231 posted on 01/19/2008 2:50:24 PM PST by seekthetruth
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To: pissant
“I’ve always said I have to do very well here, there’s no question about that and I stand by that,” he said. “We’ll have to see what the results are tonight, and it won’t be too much longer.”

Sounds good to me. I think even third place would mean he's done very well in a wide open race. How he interprets his final tally is strictly up to him. I think he'll do well; third or better.

232 posted on 01/19/2008 2:52:05 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: CharlesWayneCT
I mean, does it really matter whether they both have decided they don’t want to endorse people? Why should we respect their wishes, when we know they REALLY want to endorse Thompson.

Rush is being coy. Why?.... I can only speculate.

I think it's a business decision.

233 posted on 01/19/2008 2:52:25 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made." Groucho Marx)
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To: Khepri

Some folks call me a socon, at least my brother does. The Huckster is a charleton who should pack up and go back to Hope, Arkansas, where he is good company with the Clintonistas.


234 posted on 01/19/2008 2:52:37 PM PST by gpapa (My idea of gun control is a good, steady aim)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan

“It’s a very dynamic and fluid race. Fred is betting that his steady eddy campaign will win out in the end. “

In the end of what? If he can’t finish higher than 3rd in the South exactly when does the Steady Eddy strategy pay off? Just being on the ballot won’t get it done, at some point he has to actually win a primary. If he goes into Fl with a 3rd place finish in SC whatare the odds he’ll do any better in Fl. Isn’t he polling in single digits there now?
That Tortoise & Hare thing is a fable....not real life. Here ya go The early bird gets the worm. Slogans aren’t likely to help much now. What state do you see Fred winning besides TN. If Fred can stay in with the poor showing he’s had so far, then Huckabee can stay in as well. same for all the candidates, but he still has to win a primary at some point.


235 posted on 01/19/2008 2:57:16 PM PST by snarkybob (')
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To: pissant

“That was one snarky post. LOL”

Thanks. I love your work.


236 posted on 01/19/2008 2:59:14 PM PST by snarkybob (')
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To: Sunnyflorida
If folks have already voted, that means they'd already chosen their candidate. In SC, as of yesterday, 41% hadn't chosen a candidate, so it made sense for the candidates to be there.

Don't know what the numbers are on FL, because the MSM has a tendency to concentrate on only one race at a time. But there are FredHeads in FL, and they've attended campaign events, and liked what they saw. I saw him on TV from an event in S. FL,and he was very well received.

237 posted on 01/19/2008 3:01:44 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ
You only heard what you wanted to hear, and what you expected to hear, based on the MSM spin, and your own antipathy toward Fred.

See post 194...I only heard what Thompson said, actually. Far be it from me to figure out what is going on in the head of the esteemed senator. I would imagine most of that viewing audience - with perhaps the exception of those whose hopes and dreams, whose ultimate happiness in life, depend upon Fred Thompson becoming the next prez - got the same general impression.

By the way, I don't have antipathy for Fred, believe it or not. I just think he's got some baggage like the others and has run an incompetent campaign. Look at all the support he's gotten from the conservative base, and how little he has done with it.

238 posted on 01/19/2008 3:01:47 PM PST by arturo ("A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." - G.K. Chesterton)
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To: SuziQ
Unless I hear Fred saying it himself, I don't automatically believe anything about his campaign that I read in the news.

She said it alright.

But I'm like you....I won't believe it until Fred says it so. Too much BS flying around.


239 posted on 01/19/2008 3:03:56 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made." Groucho Marx)
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To: NYC Republican
He sealed his fate by not going after the front-runner- McCain...STALKING HORSE... Clear as day

McCain is not Fred's biggest rival in the majority of the South; Huckabee is.

240 posted on 01/19/2008 3:04:23 PM PST by SuziQ
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