Well it is official! Well….almost! Fred Thompson is finally getting in the race for the Presidency!
Tomorrow night when the declared Republican Candidates for President meet for their fifth debate in New Hampshire, broadcast and hosted by the Fox News Channel, Thompson will be over on his network at NBC on the Jay Leno show to announce his candidacy for Presidency! But wait, does this mean he skirted the New Hampshire debate for Jay Leno? Did he just snub the voters in the first primary of the nation only four months away? Thompson’s staff said that going on Leno allows Thompson the chance to speak to everyday Americans… I agree but what about those Republicans – especially those in New Hampshire where no matter how the states move up their primary calendars is still bound to be the pivotal first step to locking up a nomination?
I see it as the right move at the wrong time! Fred Thompson is running as the pop culture president and you can’t get more pop culture than Jay Leno or a more direct route to a wide variety of voters - just look at Arnold Schwarzenegger who announced his candidacy for Governor of California from Jay’s chair – not a bad record for that chair! But why now? Is he afraid of substance? After a summer of speeches in broad brush strokes – one cold rightly ask, “Where‘s the beef?” So what about all of those Republicans on the other side of the country in New Hampshire Wednesday night and all those politically active and curious, those voters including many in the Republican base that will be watching? Though not at the debate physically – Thompson will be there in spirit and on air. You see his campaign said that the debate wasn’t worthy of his time but they did find it worthy of airtime. So they decided to run an ad on Fox News Channel before the debate starts all the same.
Good move or bad move?
General Wesley Clark’s campaign comes to mind from 2004 when drawing a recent parallel to the Thompson campaign. The General had an enormous grassroots effort urging him to run (sound familiar Mr. Thompson?) starting in the Spring of 2003 and he milked it for all he could get before announcing that Fall but then he…stumbled out of the gate with various campaign errors, missing pages in speeches and so on which just proves that although your message may be strong -- if your and your campaign’s delivery of it falls flat -- so will you. I thought that Fred Thompson’s team would learn from the General’s mistakes but instead the Thompson campaign has already gone through two campaign managers a communications director and a research director who lasted 10 days. They also fell $3million short of their $5million fundraising goal this summer. I bet a lot of it had to do with the toying around…testing the waters of the race when those most behind him and ready to give him money wanted him to jump in with both feet! That’s why I think he may be a day late and a dollar short.
So what do you think?
Should Fred Thompson be at the debates in New Hampshire answering to voters or on the Tonight Show answering to Jay Leno?
Thank you in advance for joining the conversation! It’s politics and we all have a voice!
Laura
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Comments: 32
I have read Fred's record and I will not support this man for office. But I did like him in Hunt for Red October and Law and Order. Now McCoy will have to start playing politics, dang it!
Thanks Laura!
When I was first thinking of this article – I spent a lot of time on the title – what could sum up the state of his soon to be campaign? I figured "A Day Late and a Dollar Short" worked. When Thompson filed "testing the Waters" paper with the Federal Elections Commission to be able to legally start to raise money there was a whirlwind of media and public support! People were so excited that perhaps – the great white hopes for the lack of enthusiasm with the republican field would run onto that field and make it look a whole lot more fun to follow! The money started pouring in at the filing and the various credible leaks from his early campaign that he would announce over the Fourth of July week a month later! But then there they were a month later waiting for Thompson to jump in with both feet – but no….then a month later again…nothing. John McCain even proclaimed – "Come on in the water is fine!"
His poll numbers and his fundraising both dropped and will make it more difficult for Thompson to get that wave back to ride and that's what will be interesting to watch in the next few months!
Thanks so much,
Laura
You know – Fred Thompson has been trying to play from the sidelines without getting dirty but once he gets on the field he's going to slip and slide a few times and get tackled and even by his own team. And quite honestly the Romney's of the world have been actively waiting. Mitt Romney, though not ahead in the national polls – is doing very well in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida – and these are early states and they count! Mitt Romney and his campaign have been running themselves as the "Social Conservative" but Fred Thompson has already been focusing himself as the "Consistent Conservative" and trying to take the conservative spot in the race. Well, let's put it this way – Mitt Romney has spent way too much time and money in this race and he is NOT going to let Fred Thompson walk onto the field at his own slow pace.
Watch for Romney to address Thompson even in his absence on Wednesday night!
Thanks, Laura
On another note, I'm sorry I've been amiss in responding to your articles. As you might guess, the Larry Craig episode has been front and center for those of us who make all or part of our living in politics/public policy. Not that I have anywhere near the national exposure you do, but over the last week, I've been interviewed and/or appeared on CNN, politico.com, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, and others I can't recall offhand. I have a new appreciation for people like you who are interviewed often by the national press -- as you well know, they are INTENSE, and one needs to carefully consider each word, facial expression, etc.
Thanks and great article!
You aren't the only one out there feeling like Fred Thompson is talking a lot but you just don't know what he's saying…
It's a bit unusual in this case because he has been such a non-candidate for so long and talking or should I say talking around the issues a lot and in public. He of course hasn't wanted to get mired down in the policy wars of health care and education – because he'd end up saying something he couldn't deliver on and that's the right move for the "testing the waters" phase but then again wouldn't you think that someone who is trying to run for president would have some concrete ideas before the run? When you look at the field out there on either side – whether Clinton, Obama or Edwards OR Romney and McCain – at least they have proposals and they did quite soon after they announced. I just have felt like Thompson is trying to stay out of the issues – but to me that's what an election should be all about.
The presidency has no script and we're about to find out in the coming weeks whether he can perform extemporaneously or not!
Thanks for chiming in!
His voting record and many statements have shown me that he and I do not see eye to eye on issues that are important to me. I will leave it at that but I encourage anyone who is curious to look at ontheissues.org about each candidate.
He scores more points for being on Leno. Remember folks, about 35% of the voters are always going to vote Democratic and about 35% are going to vote Republican, it's the 30% in the middle you want to win. That 30% watch Leno.
Henry Canine
I'll hold my choice on what was done right or wrong for a while, and see what he does with everything else.
This is too bad, since the "retail politics" of NH used to weed out the media stars and pretenders. Now, Thompson can basically cast NH aside without it hurting him that much. After all, both McCain and Romney are strong up here (particularly Romney since we saw so much of him when he was Governor in Mass) and, if I were advising Thompson, I'd recommend he concentrate elsewhere. It's not like he's going to suffer the fate of Ed Muskie.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Goes to show how drugged out the Democrats are. Only a dope head could like Letterman.
I am no fan of Leno either, but at least he come on stage as stoned as letterman does, or at least looks and acts.
Now back to reality.
The issue of two states being the representitive of the people's votes is so out of wack, and I suspect it has been for years, that it is a rediculas idea in the first place. I honestly believe that it is more hype from day one than anything ever real.
People are going to vote, how they are going to vote, and it does not matter what anyone or two states do what. It all matters how the people feel about the candidates running. So I honestly do not see what the big issue here is.