Too long to post here...........

http://fredfile.imwithfred.com/2007/...alism/#more-48

Thompson to report $3 Million for June
 

Not bad...I have a feeling once he finally declares his fundraising will go well. Wish it was sooner than September.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/...thompson_money

Thompson to report $3 million for June

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 31 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Presumptive presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Tuesday will report raising roughly $3 million in one month for his all-but-certain White House bid, Republican officials said.

The figure will include money collected in June only, as the Internal Revenue Service requires. Dollars raised in July, during which Thompson has held several large fundraising events, won't be disclosed.

Several Republicans with knowledge of Thompson's fundraising confirmed the first-month total on the condition of anonymity because he has not yet made the figure public. A Thompson spokeswoman, Linda Rozett, declined to comment.

The amount Thompson raised for his committee to "test the waters" of a presidential bid lags the original $5 million goal backers set for June, the first month in which he set out to raise money.

Thompson did, however, collect more than several other Republicans did in their initial fundraising months as prospective candidates. Still, Thompson's take doesn't even compare to the stunning $6.5 million haul that Mitt Romney collected on a single day in January as he was exploring a bid.

Joe Rodgers, a former finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and President Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, said Thompson's status as a non-candidate has hurt his ability to raise money.

"It probably is a disadvantage, because people that don't know Fred really don't know whether he's going to run," Rodgers said.

Rodgers, who co-hosted one of Thompson's first fundraisers in Nashville, said several potential donors told him they were willing to give money to Thompson once he officially declares his candidacy.

An actor and former Tennessee senator, Thompson filed papers with the state of Tennessee on June 4 to establish the "Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc." committee to "test the waters" of a presidential bid.

That allowed him to explore a candidacy without having to disclose to the Federal Election Commission how much he was raising and spending unless — or until — he becomes a declared candidate. But the IRS requires such entities to file reports.

Thompson's first such filing comes a week after the presumptive campaign went through a staff shake-up with the departure of its would-be campaign manager and several other aides.

Although Thompson has refused to say definitively that he's a candidate for president, he has operated as an unofficial one for two months, hiring staff, opening headquarters and holding fundraisers. He had been expected to enter the race in the summer but the timeline has been pushed back until September at the earliest.

What's RL saying now?:munchin

I predict that soon (when Fred officially throws his hat into the ring) Fred will see a whole lot of campaign monies come his way.;)

It's going to be Fred against the slimy witch from NYC.


"In the race for the Republican Presidential nomination, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson remains nominally on top with support from 26% of Likely Republican Primary voters. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains essentially even as the top choice for 24%. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Arizona Senator John McCain are each preferred by 12% (see daily history). Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is favored by 4%, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback attracts support from 3%, and four other candidates (Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Tommy Thompson, and Sam Brownback) split 2% of the vote. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided."

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_c..._tracking_poll

I would like to know, for Thompson and each of the other candidates, how much they raised in June, how much they have raised to date, and how much cash they have on hand net of debts.

Jonathan Martin must be reading ProfessionalSoldiers.com:p


July 31, 2007
Read More: F. Thompson

The Thompson report

Fred Thompson's campaign-in-waiting has released their June fundraising numbers with a nice touch of spin.

"Thompson Committee Raises Millions in One Month," blares the headline.

The totals:

Raised: $3.46 million since incorporation on June 1
Spent: $625,746 (an 18 percent burn rate, they note)
Cash on Hand: $2,836,609.08
Total donors: 9,167 (from all 50 states)
Online donors: 7,534

More to come after I dive in.

By Jonathan Martin 01:06 PM

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonath...on_report.html

You're stuck on the money issue.

Didn't help Ross Perot, one cannot purchase the office. ;)

It is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition. I'd like to see Fred take off like a scalded cat, but worry that time is not on his side.

Correct. $3 million in June is good. But he has a lot of catching up to do. I am very concerned about the huge disparity in Dem and GOP fundraising to date. I would go so far as to say that Giuliani is the only GOP candidate (to date, anyway) with a decent shot of winning in November. And since many conservatives may stay home if he gets the nomination, we are probably screwed.

Question is, if he raised $3 Million as an "unannounced" candidate, what will he raise once he finally declares? Hopefully MUCH more. Yes, I know...hope is not a method or a guarantee.

That said, I don't think I could live with myself if I abstained from voting, even if Giuliani does wind up with the nomination. Yeah, it would be the lesser of two evils, at least for me. To see a full fledged dem in office, especially now...well, the thought of it gives me a very sick feeling. :(

While I still can't bring myself to say that Giuliani is the only GOP candidate with a decent shot of winning...

What you've said above seems dead on to me and scares the crud out of me. I'm very irritated with the GOP that they haven't managed to get the party together and find someone to rally behind that won't divide the party when we so badly need to win this election - or at least not get trounced. If we lose, we're going to lose BIG. I really hope that the party heads are going to pull a rabbit out of a hat. It is amazing to me that we're floundering like this and there's no sense of direction in the base. I'm certain it is one of the reasons why the Dems are raising money like all get out - they've got a fiery cause and the GOP is just sitting around watching paint dry, ducking the "Bush" question and waiting to get beat. Someone really needs to step up and get aggressive. I'm bothered Thompson keeps putting off his announcement.

I hate to say it, but I fault the POTUS, to a large degree.

He should have never picked a VP from a minor state, especially one who was never going to run for POTUS himself.

In almost every other recent administration, the VP used the position to launch his campaign for POTUS after the incumbent was through. Not all were successful, and some were laughable, but it gives the VP an opportunity to rise above the others, and significant advantages.

He could have done this during the 2004 campaign, citing VP Cheney's health as the reason.

If, for example, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, or Fred Thompson had been VPOTUS, there would likely be little serious contest in the Republican primary. Who really challenged Gore in the 1999 primary?

IMHO, there is a serious lack of strategic planning at the top.

TR

Totally agree. I was running around spouting off when the ticket was first formed and into first term that Cheney would NEVER be on the ticket in 2004 for that very reason. (Because I can never admit that I'm completely wrong ;) ) I sort of wonder if plans changed somewhere along the way with the GWOT and President Bush "needed" VP Cheney to stay on. It seems to me that right or wrong this administration has done a whole lot of things because they felt an underlying conviction of need to get it done and stay the path come hell or high water. I continue to hold on to the notion that their convictions better be right and good while I know they've been political suicide. I just wish they were better at marketing and strategy to boot.

I'm slightly underwhelmed and kinda shaking my head with Spencer Abraham as Fred's choice for campaign manager. Seems like kind of a strange choice with all of the potential hard charger's out there to pick from....

Very light initial research inidcates Abraham has something of a reputation for appeasment dealing with Middle East special interest groups. He's reportedly a staunch Federalist so possibly that's how his name came up.

I hope he has the contact network needed to launch the campaign!

Abraham is one of the co-founders of the Federalist Society. I don't know what experience he has in running political campaigns, although he has been a candidate. He may be a figurehead type, more of a campaign chairman than a campaign manager.

Anyone check Fred Thompson's website in the last day or two? You should, lots of changes and enhancements...

I have to say, I think Fred is waiting too long.

IMHO, he should have been in the debate, and is now losing traction.

TR

Couldn't agree more. I'm shaking my head at the whole group, but I'm particularly irked at Thompson because I really thought he might have done something interesting if he'd have jumped in about a month ago.

It certainly wasn't a sure thing that he could have taken it all the way to a nomination, but now?? I doubt we'll never be able to prove RL wrong! ;)

I'm disappointed he has not yet declared, and truly hope September is not too late...

We are still 15 months out from the general election, right? Conventions are in the early spring? Tommy Thompson is bowing out, McCain will be soon, and who else will be leaving the field?

My memory is obviously not great, but it seems that we are expecting hard campaigning awfully early compared to two or three presidencies ago. I think Fred is hitting it just right. Let the Dems continue to expose themselves and let their true motives float to the top. Let the Republican field thin itself from the first burst out of the gate, and then be the fresh face on the news and be in a better position to dictate your own talking points in the media when the newsboys get tired of the same old story.

Ain't nothing close to being over yet. September is good - it's too damned hot outside to be worrying about it this month.

Fred showed up in the Iowa straw poll ahead of Rudy G. and McCain.....but the clock is ticking.

2007 Iowa Straw Poll a resounding success. No one was more pleased than Governor Mitt Romney who received 4,516 votes to win the Straw Poll.

In second place Governor Mike Huckabee 2,587;
Third Senator Sam Brownback 2,192;
Fourth, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo 1,961;
Fifth place was U.S. Representative Ron Paul 1,305;
Sixth Governor Tommy Thompson 1,029;
Seventh place finisher, and undeclared candidate, Fred Thompson 203;
Eighth Mayor Rudy Giuliani 183;
Ninth U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter 174;
Tenth Senator John McCain, 101;
And finishing last with 41 votes was John Cox.

Given his efforts in Iowa, what does that work out to in dollars per vote?

Maybe I should move for a month or so every four years?

TR

Daddy Warbucks in Iowa
 

I heard that Romney spent somewhere in the area of 4 million in Iowa...that is around $880 dollars a vote.

Mind you those that choose to vote in the straw poll have to pay $35 for the privilege. I think I would rather get a steak at Texas Roadhouse..:rolleyes:

(just in case you were wondering...the last election, President Bush won with 62,028,285 popular votes. Using Romney-math that comes out to $54,895,032,225.00 )

I think that these may possibly be the most bizarre results that I've ever seen come out of Iowa.

Mike Huckabee in 2nd place?

Brownback in third? Last national poll I saw had him with something like 2% of likely voters. ( I like Brownback, BTW)

Paul & Thompson? What is the straw poll, some sort of magic time machine?

I heard on NPR last week that Thompson is putting off his declaration due to the "Law and Order" season that should have its last episode the first week of September. If he declares before that time, networks have to give equal time to other candidates. The rule does not apply to old shows in syndication on cable TV. Rumors from his inner circle is that he's doing this so that the other actors can get paid for their appearances on the show, as they would not get paid if the show does not air. I'm sure the network has something to do with it too.

This is a marathon, not a sprint . . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3162457.shtml

CBS Poll: Giuliani Maintains Strength
Former New York Mayor Leads Closest Rival By 20 Points Nationally

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2007

(CBS) According to a new CBS News poll out Monday, Rudy Giuliani retains a significant lead nationally among Republican primary voters in the race to become the party’s presidential nominee.

In all, 38 percent of Republican primary voters favor the former New York City mayor, a slight increase from last month. Senator-turned-actor Fred Thompson is next; he's favored by 18 percent of Republican primary voters, a seven-point drop from last month. Thompson has yet to officially announce his candidacy.

The third choice, at 13 percent, is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who improved five points from one month ago. He was followed by Arizona Sen. John McCain, who came in at 12 percent.

Republican primary voters appear to be growing more content with the Republican candidates for president: 46 percent say they are satisfied with their choices, up from 36 percent a month ago and 30 percent in June. But 49 percent say they are not satisfied.

Giuliani, defying conventional wisdom, continues to show strength among groups not expected to be favorable towards his candidacy. He leads the field among conservatives, those who live in the South and West, evangelical Christians, and voters who think that a candidate's personal life should be a factor in deciding whom to support.

In all, 47 percent of Giuliani supporters say they strongly favor their candidate, while 45 percent say the like him as a choice, with reservations. Only 7 percent choose Giuliani because they dislike the other candidates.

When asked for their second choice among the candidates, 30 percent of Republican primary voters choose McCain, more than any other candidate. Romney is the second choice of 15 percent of primary voters, while just 8 percent say Thompson is their second choice.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,214 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone Aug. 8-12, 2007. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

Found this on the website today. Just a few more weeks until September...

http://www.imwithfred.com/NewsRoom/I...b-9cd898a9adf6

August 16, 2007
David S. Broder: Shaking up presidential race
Sacramento Bee, Opinion


When Fred Thompson makes his long-delayed entrance into the Republican presidential race, he will not tiptoe quietly.

Instead, he will try to shake up the establishment candidates of both parties by depicting a nation in peril from fiscal and security threats -- and prescribing tough cures he says others shrink from offering.

In a two-hour conversation over coffee at a restaurant near his Virginia headquarters, the former senator from Tennessee said that when he joins the battle next month, he "will take some risks that others are not willing to take, in terms of forcing a dialogue on our entitlement situation, our military situation and what it's going to cost" to assure the nation's future.

After spending most of the last few years on TV's "Law and Order," and starting a new family with two children under 4, the 65-year-old lawyer says he finds himself motivated for the first time to seek the White House.

"There's no reason for me to run just to be president," he said.

"I don't desire the emoluments of the office. I don't want to live a lie and clever my way to the nomination or election. But if you can put your ideas out there -- different, more far-reaching ideas -- that is worth doing." Thompson, like many of the others running, has caught a strong whiff of the public disillusionment with both parties in Washington -- and the partisanship that has infected Congress, helping to speed his own departure from the Senate.

But he says he thinks that the public is looking for a different kind of leadership. "I think a president could go to the American people and say, 'Here's what we need to be doing. and I'm willing to go half-way.' Now you have to make them (the opposition) go half-way." The approach Thompson says he's contemplating is one that will step on many sensitive political toes. When he says "we're getting a free ride" fighting a necessary war in Iraq with an undersized military establishment, "wearing out our people and equipment," it sounds like a criticism of the president and the Pentagon.

When he says he would have opposed adding the prescription drug benefit to Medicare, "a $17 trillion add-on to a program that's going bankrupt," he is fighting the bipartisan judgment of the last Congress.

When he says the FBI is perhaps incapable of morphing itself into the smart domestic security agency the country needs, he is attacking another sacred cow.

Thompson repeatedly cites two texts as fueling his concern about the country's future. One is "Government at the Brink," a two-volume report he issued as chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee at the start of the Bush administration in 2001 and handed to the new president's budget director as a checklist of urgent management problems in Washington.

The difficulties outlined in federal procurement, personnel, finances and information technology remain today, Thompson said, and increasingly "threaten national security." His second sourcebook contains the scary reports from Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the Governmental Accountability Office, on the long-term fiscal crisis spawned by the aging of the American population and the runaway costs of health care. Walker labels the current patterns of federal spending "unsustainable," and warns that unless action is taken soon to improve both sides of the government's fiscal ledger -- spending and revenues -- the next generation will suffer.

"Nobody in Congress or on either side in the presidential race wants to deal with it," Thompson said. "So we just rock along and try to maintain the status quo. Republicans say keep the tax cuts; Democrats say keep the entitlements. And we become a less unified country in the process, with a tax code that has become an unholy mess, and all we do is tinker around the edges." Thompson readily concedes that he does not know "where all those chips are going to fall" when he starts challenging members of various interest groups to look beyond their individual agendas and weigh the sacrifices that could assure a better future for their children.

But these issues -- national security and the fiscal crisis of an aging society with runaway heath care costs -- "are worth a portion of a man's life. If I can't get elected talking that way, I probably don't deserve to be elected."

Thompson says "I feel free to do it" his own way, and that freedom may just be enough to shake up the presidential race.

I do find it pretty freaking funny that many of you are clamoring for a lawyer to run for President . . . ;)

It's a wholly philosophical exercise, Sir! :D

To slay the beast, one must know the beast and when possible, live as the beast lives. -- Sun Tzu

You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect. -- Miyamoto Musashi

I thought that all of the candidates were lawyers, or at least had law degrees.

TR

Fred Thompson's "rope a dope"
 

Interesting perspective on timing...

Fred Thompson's rope-a-dope
By Star Parker
Monday, August 20, 2007

It's said that in life, timing is everything. And it could be that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's entry into the 2008 presidential race, expected in early September, will prove to be timed perfectly.

According to a just released poll from the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Americans have a negative reaction to the presidential campaign thus far and only 19 percent have anything positive to say. And the main complaint of the disgruntled 52 percent is that the campaign simply started too early.

This could be Thompson's "rope-a-dope." Recall this maneuver of Muhammad Ali's in his famous "rumble in the jungle" in Zaire with then heavyweight champion George Foreman. Ali leaned back on the ropes in the early rounds, his forearms up covering his face, and let Foreman pound himself to exhaustion. Ali then stepped up, fresh and strong, and knocked Foreman out.

Thompson has been sitting on the sidelines while the large field of announced candidates on both sides have been traipsing from debate to debate in a campaign begun earlier than ever.

When Thompson announces next month and formally enters the race, his timing alone might be appreciated by a public wondering why they have been forced to start listening to candidates more than a year and half before they'll go to the polls to vote.

In a Washington Post poll done last week, only one in five Republicans say they are "very satisfied" with their candidates. And although the Democratic field is more settled (almost half of Democrats say they are "very satisfied" with their candidates), the negative ratings for their front runner and likely nominee, Sen. Hillary Clinton, remain at almost 50 percent.

So, Fred Thompson, a seasoned actor, may really know how to respond on cue. With Act One, Scene One played out, he may enter the stage in Scene Two and wake up the audience.

And, from what the Washington Post's David Broder reports, it may be more than just timing that wakes up this audience.

According to Broder, who reports on a two hour interview he just did with Thompson, the ex-senator and actor is going to be bold. He's got a nice life as a star in the popular "Law and Order" TV series, a beautiful young wife and young children, and is not running for president out of some ego-driven need.

He is stepping up to the plate out of a sense that there are things that need to be said that aren't being said, and that, if elected, he'll have a shot at getting these things done.

Anyone who has been reading what I have written these last few months knows my incredulity that the massive entitlements crisis facing this nation has not been part of the campaign discussion. It's been like hearing the social director of the Titanic announce shuffleboard times as the ship is going down.

It sounds like Thompson is ready to put the facts on the table before the American public and, yes, fasten your seatbelts, tell the truth.

He's going to talk about Medicare and Social Security and what we need to do to tighten our belts and get our lives back under control. And he's going to talk about national security and weigh in as a traditional values candidate.

This kind of honesty and candor is only possible with a candidate for whom the truth is more important than the job. And it sounds like Fred is ready.

Clinton, who in all likelihood will be the Democratic nominee, has just released her first campaign ad. In the short video, she lays out her cards about what her campaign will be about.

First, she'll run against George Bush. Second, she'll tell the American people they can rely on her to fix their problems. According to her ad, we're all "invisible" to the Bush administration.

The ad couldn't help but remind me of an exchange that occurred at the time when Clinton was making her first push at Hillary-care during her husband's administration. It took place between then Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, and Paul Starr, who was one of the crafters of the Clinton plan to nationalize health care.

Starr was pitching the government-as-mother-hen view of the world that defined Hillary then and, as evident in her new ad, defines her now.

Gramm said to Starr, "Don't tell me that you care as much about my grandchildren's health care as I do." Starr replied, "Excuse me, senator. But I do care about your grandchildren's health care." Gramm then rejoined, "Then tell me, what are their names."

No, Senator Clinton. The president of the United States cannot be and should not be our mother.

Freedom is for adults. It sounds like Fred Thompson is about to remind us all of this important truth.

"Bones heal, pain is temporary, glory lasts forever, and chicks dig scars." Evel Kneivel

God I can't wait.....:munchin

Sir, well said!:lifter

I am fond of the legal profession...as friends work in that field...

Can only hope that "the right money" goes in to "the right wallets."

Fred Thompson would make an excellent CIC, IMHO.

Holly

Anybody but Hillary or Obama
 

Thompson is my guy. He's almost Reaganesque--give him time.

McCain makes me nervous. He's flakey and seems a bit like the old "Manchurian Candidate."

Anyone else........
 

Get an icecream headache from hearing Mrs. Obama and her rants? I can't wait for September!! GO FRED! GO!

I just find it humorous that we conservatives are always bitching about the Hollywood elite and actors, yet we are the ones that keep putting actors in office.....:D :D

10% rule...:cool:

Stay safe.

Dear Friends,

On September 6, 2007, Fred Thompson will be announcing his intention to run for President of the United States with a webcast available to millions at www.imwithfred.com. The launch of the video will be followed by a five-day campaign tour through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. On the evening of the 6th, there will also be a National House Party, during which there will be a conference call with Fred.

We enter this campaign in a strong position. Fred is consistently near the top in the polls, and conservatives across the country have put together the closest thing to a draft in recent presidential campaign history in an effort to bring about this day. The next few weeks will only serve to build upon those efforts, with house parties, visits to the early primary states, and a homecoming in Lawrenceburg, TN on the 15th. To view the dates and locations of Fred's bus tour, please click here, and check back soon for more information on attending one of these events.

By announcing via webcast, Fred is able to take his consistently mainstream conservative message directly to the voters, who are already responding to that message with a strong upwelling of grassroots support. The webcast and the following campaign tour will play to Fred’s strengths, a consistent record of conservatism, his ability to clearly spread his message, and his ability to work with and connect with Americans from all walks of life. Be apart of this historic occasion by signing up to host or attend a house party today.

Sincerely,

Bill Lacy
Manager, Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc.