Now to worry, the Senator is biding his time and waiting for his opportunity to "break out."
Posted on 12/21/2007 5:44:36 PM PST by devere
DAVENPORT, Iowa — Fred Thompson’s plan is simple: Get on a bus and haul around to some 50 Iowa towns and cities between now and Jan. 3.
It’s the only option he has.
Thompson has little money left in bank and has had to slash his television presence here to a level well below that of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. His cash crunch is so severe that he’s even had to freeze his direct mail plan.
So now, for the next two weeks before the caucuses, he'll be largely living off the land.
Thompson fell in the polls as Mike Huckabee rose — in seeming direct correlation to one another. One network pulled their embedded reporter from the Thompson beat and another network divided their embed between the two candidates.
But a different Fred Thompson showed up at the GOP debate last week outside Des Moines. The funny, commanding performance turned some heads, perhaps not the least of which that of conservative Iowa congressman Steve King, who threw his support to Thompson in a press conference Monday.
King’s support, and Thompson’s debate showing, also caught the eye of veteran Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen, who made the case this week that Thompson should not be counted out.
The confluence of events has combined to give Thompson aides at least the appearance of optimism.
“The important thing for Thompson was to get into the mix in this final fortnight,” said senior adviser Rich Galen. “He needed to be part of the conversation. And that has happened.”
So now they’re trying to capitalize.
Thompson’s bus tour is aimed less at retail, one-on-one politicking than at earning media attention to compensate for his lack of ads and direct mail.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
But did he intentionally skip these them or was there another reason he was not campaigning there?
Now to worry, the Senator is biding his time and waiting for his opportunity to "break out."
Let’s see...another hit piece on Thompson from Politico. Hmmm.
Blood Pressure - Check
BS Detector - Check
Healthy sarcasm - Check
Read article - Check
Synopsis: Fred is DOA but we don’t want to appear to be meanies, so we’ll damn him with a smattering of faint praise and hope he goes away.
Wow. I feel better.
Your question is unclear. What alternative do you mean? Alternative to Fred or alternative campaign strategy?
For the latter, see post 54. Start in June or July, raise some money, get out earlier and parlay the media buzz he had to make an early impression.
For the former... I’m a Hunter supporter, and this guy has had to work against all of the odds and has had no media coverage, next to no starting funds (he’s running on a congressman’s salary, which isn’t all that much), little name recognition being a Republican in California, and a barebones campaign staff that includes his son. He’s still hanging in there, and he has a cult following because he took the time, announced early and built it. His task is to build it in places the other candidates are neglecting.
If you mean “what should Fred do now,” I hate to break it to you, but it’s too late. The damage has been done. Iowa and New Hampshire are lost. If he wants to try Nevada and Wyoming, it may give him a chance.
We’re on the monthly plan too.
GO FRED!!
“I hate to break it to you, but it’s too late. The damage has been done.”
If Admiral Nimitz had taken your advice before Midway, we’d all be speaking Japanese now.
Go Fred!
I sent money in earlier this week.
Funny how this site has been trying to get rid of Fred since the very beginning.. they must be really scared to hate him that much.
by “this site” I mean Politico.com
I agree.
.
.
.
According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
The other day I thought he raised a bit of money with their “2400 People in 24 hours” campaign they were running. I don’t mind giving Fred a little more.
The media ignores Fred, which is a good thing for him. I disagree with one previous poster. Fred has the money it needs (I actually donated to his campaign this week) as Huckaboom showed that you can do well (at least in the polls) with little money.
“Funny how this site has been trying to get rid of Fred since the very beginning.”
You mean Politico? I guess they are Democrats, and the Democrats know they can’t beat Fred with a united Republican Party behind him. Huckabee they would smash, Rudy and MCcain would give them a fight, and Mitt would unforutnately probably lose because of the Mormon thing. But Fred would win.
Folks, I just don’t see how you can continue to think this way. The man can barely pay gasoline for that bus.
EVEN IF HE WINS Iowa . . . outright . . . by 5 points . . . there are only 5 days thereafter until New Hampshire and 7 days until Michigan after that. Does everyone think the GOP public is going to see this surprise victory and leap to their checkbooks? EVEN IF THEY DID, that money doesn’t arrive soon enough to make media buys. They have to be reserved in advance.
There Is No Time For Him To Raise Money. There is no time for him to do anything with it even if he did raise it. He failed to run a campaign as a winning candidate must. He failed to raise money.
I love it when people write Fred off...
Just makes it more fun...
Here’s what I don’t understand. There are a lot of posters (or shills?) here on this site who claim that they like Fred but he did XYZ thing wrong earlier in the campaign.
So what? If you’re a conservative, don’t you vote for him anyway and hope for the best?
Show up for the primary and VOTE THOMPSON. I don’t get this, “well it’s too late.” It’s not too late if you haven’t voted yet. So it’s better to elect a liberal RINO because of your MSM-parroted viewpoints regarding Thompson?
Please, 80 percent(or more) of these people are only saying that because they support another candidate.
Notice how they almost never talk about record or principles?
It’s getting really frustrating to try to sift through the campaign propaganda and the truth.
If you think Fred is a good conservative and has more visibility than someone like Hunter, then VOTE FOR HIM. Are people honestly going to vote Mitt or Rudy just because they think they will win the primaries? VOTE THE OTHER WAY and they won’t!
According to this link Fred has much more campaign money than Huckabee:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp
Maybe Politico really is just spinning a fable.
My contribution goes in the mail tomorrow. THANKS for all you folks are doing. FRED’S THE MAN.
Details details...
One interesting note is Fred’s cash on hand vs debt compared to Mitt’s...
Of course we will be told about the fact that Mitt is self funding...
You bought stock in “Depends” too, eh?!
Al, baby! Please.
I’ll send Fred ten bucks for every one of your mistresses if you’ll cheer up and get with the program.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.