No one will be elected POTUS by just looking good. Fred will have to prove himself to get support of serious voters.
I do a little of your homework for you....
Fiscally fisking the 2008 contenders
As a strong fiscal conservative, Ive long awaited a comprehensive analysis that sizes up the 08 field on both taxes AND spending. Thanks to the National Taxpayers Union, we now have some idea of where the candidates on both sides of the aisle stand on economic growth and size-and-scope of government issues. NTU has released a nifty scorecard that ranks all of the presidential contenders with legislative records on these issues, meaning that, unfortunately, we dont get to see where candidates with only executive experience fit into the overall snapshot. Still, the results are enlightening, and in some cases, a bit surprising.
Each year, NTU assigns a grade to each Member of Congress w/r/t his or her votes on legislation related to taxes, debt, regulation, and spending. The NTU looks both at the percentage of the time the legislator voted for the taxpayer, and at the importance of each of those votes, weighing each vote accordingly. This prevents, for example, a congresscritter voting in favor of several small tax credits but against a huge tax cut from earning a higher score than a legislator who did the opposite, thus presenting a more accurate picture of where the candidates stand on fiscal issues than would a raw vote count. According to NTU, here are the 08 candidates most recent grades:
NTU Congressional Rating (most recent legislative year)
John McCain: A (88%)
Ron Paul: A (84%)
Sam Brownback: A (84%)
Newt Gingrich: A (79%)
Tom Tancredo: A (76%)
Fred Thompson: A (73%)
Chuck Hagel: B+ (82%)
Duncan Hunter: B (62%)
Bill Richardson: F (33%)
John Edwards: F (22%)
Dennis Kucinich: F (22%)
Hillary Clinton: F (17%)
Barack Obama: F (16%)
Joe Biden: F (11%)
Chris Dodd: F (10%)
Two things. First, this explains why Duncan Hunter isnt gaining any traction; his record on fiscal issues is that of something other than a conservative. Secondly, Bill Richardson appears to be the most fiscally conservative Democrat in the field, though thats not saying much. In order to avoid making inferences based on what may be an anomalous year on the part of some candidates, lets now take a look at the percentage of legislative years during which each candidate received an A grade from the NTU:
Percent of A Grades
Ron Paul: 100%
Tom Tancredo: 100%
Fred Thompson: 88%
John McCain: 67%
Newt Gingrich: 57%
Sam Brownback: 50%
Chuck Hagel: 30%
Duncan Hunter: 6%
All Democrats: 0%
McCain is likely hurt by his opposition to the Bush tax cuts earlier in the decade. Thompson, interestingly, received an A from the NTU almost every year he was in the Senate, bested only by Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. And, finally, NTU has determined just how much of your money each of these candidates would like to spend. By parsing the legislative agenda of each of the 08 candidates, and by subtracting the amount each candidates agenda would cut government from the amount each agenda would increase the cost of government, NTU has revealed just which of our 08 candidates truly are committed to small government. The results are a bit surprising:
Net cost of legislative agenda for most recent legislative year
Bill Richardson: -$1.6 billion
Fred Thompson: $3.1 billion
Newt Gingrich: $4.5 billion
Barack Obama: $11.7 billion
Tom Tancredo: $13.7 billion
Duncan Hunter: $15.8 billion
Sam Brownback: $19 billion
Ron Paul: $34 billion
John McCain: $36.9 billion
Chuck Hagel: $86.7 billion
Joe Biden: $90 billion
John Edwards: $103.5 billion
Chris Dodd: $224 billion
Hillary Clinton: $378.2 billion
Dennis Kucinich: $1.87 trillion
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardsons legislative agenda would actually have led to net cuts in government. If Bill Richardson were the prototypical Democrat, I would likely have to rethink my party affiliation. And if anyone is the heir to Bill Clinton in the Democratic field, its Barack Obama, with his tax-and-dont-spend policies, which are very similar to the former presidents agenda, and which is far more Clintonian than Ms. Rodhams tax-and-spend liberalism. In fact, Hillarys attempts to grow government dwarf those of every Republican and most Democrats in the field, proving Dick Morris right when he postulated that Hillary would be our first European-style socialist president.
On the Republican side, Fred Thompsons record on spending puts the rest of the field to shame, and is even more conservative than that of Newt Gingrich. Perhaps Thompsons supposed lack of accomplishments in the Senate are the result of a legislator who erred on the side of ensuring that government didnt grow, didnt spend more, didnt meddle more in peoples lives, and generally left Americans alone. In an age of two big-governnment parties, it isnt surprising that such a candidate is garnering interest.
What's changed?
Kerry lost because he looked goofier
Gore lost because he looked more wooden
Dole lost because he lookede to old
Bush lost because the other guy looked like a good ol' boy
Dukahis lost because he looked silly riding a tank.
Mondale lost because the other guy looked Presidential
Carter lost because the other guy looked Presidential
Ford lost becsue he looked clumsy
McGovern lost because (OK I got nothing)
And in most cases the taller gut with more hair won.
OK Thompson is only slightly less balding than Giuliani, but at 6'5" noone is coing to be looking down on his shiny dome, Whereas Giuliani is 5'9½". (No one that short has been elected since Carter, and he was the last since McKinley)
I know who I'd put money on