Thanks......

Joined, donated and part of the team....

Roger that. Just sent my first-ever campaign contribution. When he announces, I'll send more.

Thompson Surges into Second Place
 

Looking good...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/c...07/2007&page=1

Thompson Surges Into Second Place
By Matt Towery
Thursday, June 7, 2007

While former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has simply formed an exploratory campaign committee, the mere expectation that he will enter the field of GOP presidential candidates has vaulted him into second place in the polls focused on those Republican contenders.

A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion national survey is the first one taken after Thompson made his move toward a probable, eventual announcement that he's running. It showed Rudy Giuliani still leading at 28 percent, but Thompson had surged into second place with 19 percent, followed by John McCain and Mitt Romney with 17 percent each.


The poll surveyed 1000 likely voters in Republican primaries or caucuses across the nation. It was conducted May 31-June 1, just days after Thompson's exploratory committee was announced. The poll has been weighted for age, race, gender and geographic population distribution.

A week later, internal polling conducted for the organization that was involved in drafting Fred Thompson also showed him in second place.

Now the critical question is whether Fred Thompson can take the political capital he's already gained by simply saying he's ready to run, and turn it into an overtaking of Giuliani and the other contenders in a Republican slugfest.

The Thompson campaign is a textbook example of how political rumor can become political reality. Few candidates ever enjoy the opportunity of truly being "drafted" into a presidential campaign.

In April and May, many Republican insiders who consider themselves conservative, but not the wacky right, burned up telephone lines in search of an alternative to what many view as an uninspired group of candidates. When Thompson's name emerged, those close to him seized the moment.

Former U.S. Senator and Ambassador Mack Mattingly of Georgia was one of them. He was an early architect of the "draft Fred" movement.

For purposes of full disclosure, I served as Mattingly's first speechwriter, and he's served on the boards of several companies that I've either owned or for which I've sat as a board member alongside him.

The major value of this longtime relationship is not some inside information about Thompson, but instead a solid understanding of the kind of Republican who could be drawn to a Thompson campaign.

Early Thompson supporters like Mattingly are Reagan Republicans to the core. They don't talk about reducing the cost of government; they obsess about it. They're skeptical of the influence of special-interest groups, and of government intervention in our lives. These are not "neocons," but rather the last lions of the Reagan era. They're soft-spoken, but passionate.

Mattingly was elected U.S. senator from Georgia in 1980, in a brutal campaign against legendary Democrat Herman Talmadge. That same year, incumbent President Jimmy Carter fared poorly across the nation in his re-election bid, but did carry his home state of Georgia. On the same ballot, Mattingly won and became the first Republican senator from Georgia since Reconstruction.

Six years later, Mattingly was caught up in a national downdraft that sent many of his fellow freshman Republican senators home. But during his six years in Congress, Mattingly's affability and attractiveness helped him make friends among Republican leadership. President Reagan recognized him in one of his State of the Union addresses as the chief protagonist in one of the poignant dramas of the Reagan era -- the fight for the budget line-item veto.

Mattingly's name is closely associated with the likes of former Kansas Senator and GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, and others of the same status and philosophical bent. Conservatives all; reactionaries none.

Mattingly refuses to categorize the Thompson movement as being the sole responsibility of any one group's effort. Instead, a look at early Thompson supporters shows a broad range of experienced Republicans that fully expect their candidate to talk plainly and display Reagan-like leadership traits.

For example, Reagan's response to terrorist dictator Moammar Qaddafi of Libya was not an invasion, but a surgical air strike that landed bombs so close to Qaddafi's home that he was hardly heard from again.

On the domestic front, the Mattingly-style Republicans have always advocated simplicity in the budget process, and in domestic policy in general. Neither the current immigration bill, nor a whole series of other legislative measures pushed by the Bush administration ever measured up to the Reaganites' simple and stringent political measuring stick. Put simply, it asks of every proposed policy, "Does it get the job done? Is it cost-effective? Can the public understand it?"

It remains to be seen whether Thompson can climb the ladder and become his party's nominee. But there is little doubt that this is the first bona fide "movement" in many decades to draft a Republican candidate for president.

Not former VP. She was the CO-President!!

Well the political memorabilia shop on the corner of Pennsylvania and 14th Streets in D.C. has Fred with only 3% of the vote in their “campaign button poll”. The results are displayed on a T.V. in the window and are based on the number of campaign buttons that are purchased. Rudy G. leads the fray, but considering the fact that Fred Thompson doesn’t have a campaign button yet 3% is pretty good……

I'm looking forward to him getting going so I can get involved.

Considering that DC is the only place carried by George McGovern in '72, I'd say that 3% translates into widespread support in the rest of the country, i.e. The Real World. :cool:

Reality has nothing to do with day-to-day operations here inside the Beltway.

Website
 

The new Official Website is www.imwithfred.com -You can email info about the campaign to friends, sign up as a volunteer or send a contribution from this site.

Very encouraging to see him slide into 2nd place before even announcing! :lifter

I just read this thread for the first time -- TR, sorry I missed your question a couple of months ago.

People, this guy has just about no chance of winning. You cannot win without money, and anyone who thinks differently is just dreaming.

While I'm not going to disagree with the need for money, I will disagree with the conclusion. Who is to say that he won't earn money? It might be a little on the pipedream side - but it is possible he will tap into the VERY unsettled GOP donors and get a fairly hefty bankroll. Not to mention he hasn't been burning cash for the last two quarters like Guiliani, McCain and Romney - and I'm not even talking about the Dem side.

Plus - having money isn't all its cracked up to be. Romney KILLED in the money game last quarter raising $23million primary-only dollars - this doesn't count ANY general fundraising dollars. By all accounts he beat Hillary in primary dollars as well as any GOP contender (Hillary won't disclose her division of primary vs. general dollars totaling $26million which likely means Romney beat her in pure primary dollars). McCain came in second in the GOP fundraising with $12.5 million. However, Romney despite all the dollars he raises can't manage to get his name in American households. His highest standing this month in a national poll comes in the USA Today poll at 13%. In May, Newsweek had him at 20% and Guilaini at 70%. This despite the fact that he is already running commericals in major markets. Romney's camp would die to have Thompson's immediate name recognition.

Now, whether this spells longterm anything for Thompson...? Who knows. But Thompson certainly isn't dead in the water because he doesn't have dollars right now. He's got momentum and he's stealing major thunder from Romney, and the rest of the guys with dollars. Romney's camp (of which I am a member of the national fundraising team) are not thrilled about Thompson's timing because it is coming on the heals of the end of the second fundraising quarter end (June 30th). Thompson will not be making any formal announcements until after July 1st to avoid having to announce anything about fundraising until after this deadline. I can tell you that donors have locked up their wallets though - its a fact. They aren't happy with the field and they are waiting to see what is in the wings - Thompson or otherwise. People are also more concerned with their summer vacation plans then contributing to campaigns.

Now - I would agree for certain that you can't win without money. However, you also can't win without name recognition, reputation and hard-core following. None of our current GOP contenders have all of those elements so in my mind, it is still an open field.

Just my $.02 about my contributions. In case anyone is curious about my allegiences since it does appear I am sitting in two camps - I am. I think Romney and Thompson would make a fantastic ticket as they'd bolster each other in strengths and weaknesses. I'm very undecided (and frankly don't really care) who gets the nod, I just like the ticket.

RL, what's to prevent him from getting/having money? Were still 17 months out. Have all the large donors been tapped out already?

While you can be tapped out in regards to one candidate during the primary season you can donate to all of them - in other words - Fred can still get money from everybody who has already donated to every other GOP (or Democrat) contender. I'm tapped out with Romney for the primary season, but I can donate (and have donated) to Thompson. It's just a matter of getting into their pocketbooks.

You don't raise huge amounts of money or build a campaign organization overnight. Viable presidential candidates cannot be mass produced. And you can't wait to declare your candidacy until there is a crisis in the party.

I'll be in New Hampshire in about an hour. Maybe I'll have something to report after my trip . . .

I've heard (and the polls seem to suggest) that New Hampshire is the one state besides Utah and Massachusetts that has heard of Mitt Romney. I'll be curious to get your take when you return. I know he's been pumping some serious cash that direction.

If nothing else, maybe Thompson will energize the party and allow for some very open, honest debate and a lot less of the pandering to the PC politics - and in my mind, that's a good thing.

Hey come on man. Where is that can do spirit? Ya gotta believe it to achieve it! LOL. I am actually a huge fan of Fred's.