Free Republic

For the past nine months, Mitt Romney has had a clear and explicit strategy: win Iowa, win New Hampshire and hope the momentum from those victories would carry him to the Republican nomination. For eight months, that strategy appeared to be working. But there are now signs of trouble in New Hampshire. Romney has experienced a September slide in the Granite State. At the beginning of last month, his standing in New Hampshire hovered around 30 percent. Today, it's closer to 25 percent. Three polls in the past week have recorded a decline in his support, with Rudy Giuliani and...

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said he's met frequently with influential social conservatives who are willing to accept his position on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage even though it doesn't go quite as far as they would like. Thompson favors a constitutional amendment that bars judges from legalizing gay marriage, but also leaves open the door for state legislatures to approve the practice. He said social and religious conservatives who would prefer an amendment that also bars legislatures from legalizing gay marriage can live with his view. "Everyone I have talked to in my meetings...

Conventional wisdom is hardening around the proposition that Fred Dalton Thompson is too lazy, ill-prepared, tired, old, lackluster, inexperienced, inconsistent and bald to make a successful run for President. Of course, conventional wisdom rarely gets anything right. When it does, it's only by accident. In this case conventional wisdom is not just wrong but comically so. Thompson will win the Republican nomination for two reasons. First, he's a very impressive candidate. Second, there's no realistic alternative. He will win the general election for the same two reasons. Let's start by considering the Thompson's Republican competition. John McCain's candidacy may not...

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's campaign strategists are attempting to assure supporters his candidacy is on solid ground despite placing third or fourth in most national polls. At the same time, the Romney camp is trying to lower expectations about his ability to win both of two key January contests, the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, saying it is doubtful he would be able to carry both. Most national polls have Romney running in third or fourth place behind Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain with less than 10 percent support in the race for the Republican...

It's no secret former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's strategy for winning the Republican nomination hinges on racking up early wins in both Iowa and New Hampshire. But two recently released polls indicate Mr. Romney may be losing his grip on the Granite State, despite years of familiarity from nearby Boston TV coverage. A Rasmussen Reports survey released last Tuesday showed Mr. Romney's lead over Rudy Giuliani dwindling over the course of the last month from 12 points to just three points. A survey by CNN and WMUR TV released yesterday indicated a similar downward trend: the 15-point lead Mr. Romney...

When taking a look at Fred Thompson in the polls you will see a steady increase in popularity over the last several months. Looking at usaelectionpolls.com you will see in almost every one of the polls done in September that Fred Thompson has gained. The average by southern states has grown steadily from 5.5% in March up to a high of 25.8% this September with steady increases all along. In the West Fred Thompson started out at an average of 8.5% in March and has worked back from a drop to 6.5% in April up to a strong 20.5% this...

The Democrats are the ones debating in New Hampshire tonight, but there's some news on the Republican side out of the state today as well. The Associated Press passes along the results of the latest CNN-WMUR poll of New Hampshire adults who said they plan to vote in the state's Republican primary, and the news isn't good for Mitt Romney: He polls at 23 percent, down from 33 percent in July. That's still good enough to put him in first, but not by much: Rudy Giuliani comes in at 22 percent and John McCain at 17 percent. With a margin...

WASHINGTON – A well-known evangelical leader opposed Dr. James Dobson’s criticism of presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, pointing out the candidate’s conservative views and his potential to win the ’08 election. “He (Thompson)’s obviously against same-sex marriage. He doesn’t support quite the same constitutional amendment that some of the others of us do, but he’s been talking with us about it, and has been moving closer and closer on the amendment,” said Bauer, who is president of American Values, according to OneNewsNow. “So I hope that we can, as a movement, be very wise about this, and not savage candidates that...

This much is clear about Mitt Romney's stances on the biggest domestic and foreign policy issues facing the nation: He thinks Sen. Hillary Clinton is wrong on health care and Sen. Barack Obama is wrong on Iraq. Hitting the other team is a staple of Romney's speeches in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. But he is sometimes less precise in articulating his own positions, which may be a deliberate effort to leave room to carve out new positions on the issues that will likely shape the general election, analysts say. "In terms of Iraq and health care, I...

MR. OCTOBER Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is examining whether or not to enter a "testing the waters" campaign phase beginning the first week of October. According to Gingrich associates, he is mulling an announcement tour that would include appearances on one major Sunday morning show next weekend, along with several Fox News shows on Monday, as well as an appearance on Dr. James Dobson's radio show. "It's not a coincidence that you saw Dr. Dobson attacking Fred Thompson when he did," says a former associate of Dobson's. "There's a strategy here, and it's about clearing the way...

About the only thing worse than painting yourself in a corner is doing it when the floor doesn’t need painting in the first place. So I was doubly disappointed a couple of days ago when Dr. James Dobson, a one-time child psychologist who has become a leading Christian activist, absolutely skewered presidential candidate Fred Thompson in what was to me a dazzling display of dumb. I’ve long admired and adored Dr. Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” and believe he’s a genius when it comes to kids. This week, in what was called “a private e-mail to friends,” the doctor proved...

<p>All of his Republican foes have been anxiously awaiting a chance to debate Fred Thompson. Well, on Oct. 9th in Dearborn, Mich., they'll get their first shot. Thompson's campaign announced today their October debate schedule. The first one the campaign has committed to attend: the CNBC/MSNBC/Wall Street Journal debate which is being organized in conjunction with the Michigan Republican Party.</p>

Nobody is more surprised to see former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson in the 2008 race for the White House than Fred Thompson himself. At age 64, with a successful acting career, a stable financial future, a second chance at family life, a bright beautiful young wife and two small children, running for President of the United States was likely not on his list of things to do. That’s before the conservative core of the Republican Party drafted him. Fed up with out of control federal spending, deteriorating individual liberties, a lack-luster national defense and the growing tolerance for leftist notions...

Fred Thompson's plunge into the presidential pool -- more belly-flop than swan dive -- was the strangest product launch since that of New Coke in 1985. Then the question was: Is this product necessary? A similar question stumped Thompson the day he plunged. Sean Hannity, who is no Torquemada conducting inquisitions of conservatives, asked Thompson: "When you look at the other current crop of candidates -- Republicans -- where is the distinction between your positions and what you view as theirs?" Thompson replied: "Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't spent a whole lot of time going into the...

Fred Thompson's decision to announce his presidential candidacy with a video was suggested by Newt Gingrich, who is considered a possible contender himself. Former House Speaker Gingrich has indicated he will run only if Thompson does not or his late-starting campaign crashes and burns. Actor-politician Thompson plans to follow the model of Democrat Hillary Clinton by launching his campaign with a video, followed by a fly-around to several cities. Gingrich has expressed contempt for becoming one of many announced Republican candidates at crowded debates. Thompson has decided to be one of many at the Sept. 27 debate at Baltimore's Morgan...

In the swampy soup of hopefuls for the 2008 presidential election, there is a man with a funny name. (No, not that one.) We’re thinking of the one named Fred (Thompson). Say it out loud. Do it. Fred. FRED. In the South, Fray-ud. Fur-red-duh. It has the tonal quality of something being dropped on the floor, something heavy and damp-ish. Waterlogged paper towel. Fred. The phonetics of the name seem integral to its image problem: On Urbandictionary.com, a “Fred” is defined as “a person who does stupid, annoying, or idiotic things” (Fred Flintstone, Fred Mertz). The best-case descriptors a Fred...

August 18, 2007 -- DES MOINES, Iowa - Fred Thompson wandered very close to getting into the 2008 presidential race yesterday in his first foray here - riding a wave of political celebrity but carefully skirting the pitfalls of specifics. The former senator from Tennessee, who is expected to enter the race next month, wants to be the conservative alternative to Rudy Giuliani but refused repeated requests yesterday to rule out raising taxes. "We are in the process of gradually bankrupting future generations in this country," Thompson said of Social Security and other entitlement programs that will plunge the federal...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 — Attacks on American-led forces using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the American military. The devices, known as explosively formed penetrators, were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by the American-led forces, according to American military officials. “July was an all-time high,” Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in an interview, referring to strikes with such devices. Such bombs, which fire a semi-molten copper...

Speaking at his $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in downtown Washington on Monday night, Fred Thompson began by introducing "my campaign manager -- oh, I mean my wife." That little joke about Jeri Thompson reveals how the prospective Republican presidential candidate regards the attack on his intelligent, beautiful wife. As the actor-lawyer-politician nears his long-awaited official announcement, Mrs. Thompson is slurred as a "trophy wife" -- privately by her husband's opponents for the Republican nomination and publicly by the media. Even Thompson supporters grumble that Jeri, 40, is too alluring, that she should modify the way she dresses...

Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The national race for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in the United States remains closely contested, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 26 per cent of respondents would vote for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in a 2008 primary, while 25 per cent would back actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is third with 12 per cent, followed by Arizona senator John McCain with 10 per cent. Support is lower for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. On Jul. 28, Romney discussed his views on free trade,...