Posted on 01/02/2008 9:00:41 AM PST by pissant
Two days before the Iowa caucuses day 15 of his 17-day "hands down" bus tour former senator Fred Thompson's campaign bus stood motionless in the snowy parking lot of a West Des Moines motel, across from a movie theater and a suburban strip mall.
Thompson's campaign scheduled only one event for New Year's Day, a meet-and-greet at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, about an hour outside Des Moines. Thompson, R-Tenn., shunned the bus, emblazoned with his picture, for the relative comfort of a black Chevrolet Suburban.
(snip)
Thompson has staked his campaign's prospects to Iowa. In seeking to jump-start his campaign last month, he promised to crisscross the Hawkeye State with visits to 50 cities and towns in 17 days aboard his new campaign bus.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Yes, but Howard flew the goose, I want to see hunter fly that dog.
Duncan Hunter isn’t going to be on many GOP primary ballots so it would be nearly impossible for him to win. Hunter needs to drop out and endorse Thompson, the only conservative that I can actually vote for here in Arkansas.
Oh c'mon, like pissant posting a drive-by on Fred isn't?
Hunter was at < 2% before Thompson entered the race, and Hunter is still at < 2% now. So, how is it that Thompson is to blame for Hunter’s failure to connect with potential voters? Oh, wait. You must have forgotten your /sarc tag.
Like they should have done?
It’s primary season. Thompson is the final viable conservative choice. If I have to vote for a RHINO fine, just don’t insult me because you think I should’ve done it sooner.
I suspect also that most of the money for the goose came from Howard himself and not the feds and our tax money through some congress critters earmarks....
No argument there. Fox is in the tank for Rudy. But, they’re not stupid, either. If they see some support among their core viewers, they’ll go with it.
At one point Thompson was the number one candidate in the Republican field. He appeared on the Jay Leno show, he was the front-page headlines on every newspaper. Before that he was the fill-in for Paul Harvey, was a long-time cast member on a top-rated TV series, and did ABS News radio commentaries.
I’m sorry, but I can’t see how a guy who is so unknown he gets 1% in the polls could possibly be expected to “raise Thompson’s visibility”.
But if Thompson back in September had come out and said “I appreciate the 40% support I’m seeing, but frankly, there’s already a great man in the race, and I’ll spend the next year campaigning for him, our next President, Duncan Hunter” — THAT would have raised Hunter’s visibility.
If Hunter is a RINO, I’ll eat my shoe.
FR needs to become the smoky backroom where conservatives decide who will be their leader. No press allowed! This entire thread is a weapon for the Dems/MSM to use against conservatives everywhere. Finally, I would just ask why are we fighting about the merits of our two best, when those morons in Iowa are getting ready to crown Huckster as our nominee? What in the hell is the matter with those people?
Who is responsible for voting in the GOP primaries? I assume conservatives are part of that group. So they are quite obviously responsible for their choices. If they get stars in their eyes and vote in a moderate, who are you going to blame? The media? The dems?
Duncan Hunter isnt going to be on many GOP primary ballots so it would be nearly impossible for him to win.
Charles- in your mind, pointing out Mitt’s record is an “attack” and “mitt bashing”.
Well, when Fred drops out, I will be keenly interested in your reaction. ROFL.
I think he got his scripts mixed up. He used the anti-MittRomney script. He was supposed to use the anti-Hunter script, which says “Great guy, but can’t get any traction, so you have to accept reality”.
I hope it does, though I am actually beginning to agree that Fred got in too late. I know, I know, I don't like the fact that moving up the primaries cramps the season, and I agree that somebody shouldn't have to announce they are running three years in advance just to have a shot of winning, but the fact remains - the rest were campaigning, spending, and getting their message (or something like a "message") out for months, and Fred will have a bear of a time scrabbling to overcome that.
The way I figure it, there are three major "factions" in the GOP - the SoCons, the FisCons, and the DefCons - and each already has a standard-bearer staked out.
The SoCons, Social Conservatives. These are the folks for whom social issues are the major concern. Abortion, gay marriage, degradation of the culture, ENDA, and the like (they would share gun control and illegal immigration with the DefCons). They are likely to be conservative in other areas, but some tend to be economically populist. These folks are largely in Huckabee's camp, at least for now.
The FisCons, Fiscal Conservatives. These are the people who worry most about economic issues like trade, taxes, regulation, health care and education spending, etc. Some of them tend to share law-and-order concerns with the DefCons, but many of them are also likely to not get worked up about illegal immigration, since it's "good for business". Many of them tend to be socially libertarian, and hence have a hard time working with the SoCons. These folks are largely in Romney's pocket, for now.
The DefCons, Defence Conservatives. These folks are primarily concerned with issues like military spending, national defence, the GWOT, and law-and-order. They also share issues like opposition to illegal immigration and gun control with the SoCons. These folks are basically divided - the socially conservative ones tend towards McCain (many on FR would be surprised how well McCain polls with active duty military personnel), while the socially liberal ones lean to Giuliani. Hunter also manages to snag a few of the socially conservative DefCons, but these amount to just a few diehards like pissant.
So, the problem for Fred is that, while he OUGHT to be the consensus candidate, since he has things which should greatly appeal to all three factions - because the factions have already chosen their preferred candidates to a great degree, Fred is in the position of a fourth dog trying to break in and grab a steak from a three-way dogfight already in progress.
I like Fred because I tend to be a balance between the three factions, though leaning SoCon. I have a feeling that a lot of other FReepers who support Fred are the same way - a balanced lot, though individually leaning toward(though not tipped over to) one of the three legs of the party.
A Huckaburst would be ideal - the SoCons (who are probably the largest faction of the committed, caucus-going and primary-voting membership of the party) should naturally flow back to Fred, since they finally realised that Giuliani was not their white knight. If McCain fails to get traction after his win in NH, I consider it likely that he'll eventually throw his support to Fred, his old buddy and Senate colleague. That should allow Fred to overcome Mitt.
Yeah, *I* was even on the Hunter ping list, until pissant kicked me off for not toeing the line 110%.
If Thompson drops out, it won’t be Hunter I will end up having to vote for in the general. It’ll be a RHINO, mark my words.
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