Hugh Hewitt likes the odds

I got a kick out of this from Hugh Hewitt today...

...if Senator Thompson and Speaker Gingrich join the big three, the five of them should tour the country together demonstrating that any of our top candidates is far more prepared to lead the country and far more interesting and serious about the issues we face than any of their top five. The upside of a long race is a long time to talk to the country about the war, the courts, the entitlement mess, the collapse of public education in many cities and the economy, and the GOP already has three superb communicators in the field, with a fine supporting cast, and two more possible A-listers. The Dems have got Hillary, Barack, Edwards, Chris Dodd and Slow Joe, backed up by Dennis on the bench.

I like the way those teams match-up. Very much.

Read the full article...

Frist and Thompson speaking of issues, possible run

From the City Paper in Nashville, where Bill Frist spoke at Vanderbilt University:

Frist confirmed much of the speculation surrounding comments Thompson first made on Fox News Sunday – in which the Law and Order star and movie actor noted that he was thinking of throwing his hat in the campaign ring – by saying he and Thompson have talked at least every other day about a multitude of issues, including a presidential run.

Read the full article...

Dick Morris sees room for Thompson

Dick Morris chimes in on Fred Thompson and gives a comprehensive rundown of recent polls on both sides of the aisle.

So . . . if Fred Thompson decides to make the race, Mitt Romney might as well go home — since Fred eats his lunch and knocks him down to 3 percent of the vote. (It wouldn't be a bad idea for Mitt to go home anyway.) And, if Thompson runs, Giuliani will have to battle for his lead.

Why is Thompson so lethal to Rudy? Forget the left/right division; its not really applicable. What matters is media/nonmedia or charisma/noncharisma. Rudy and Fred are both television candidates. 9-11 vs Law and Order. America's Mayor faces America's prosecutor. Both have been intimately involved with the voters.

Read the full article...

Update: Dobson clarifies his statements

This kind of stuff is only going to intensify if (when!) Fred enters the race. The MSM is going to do everything they can to divide the evangelical bloc. There is a concerted effort in every election cycle to try to show that evangelicals all think exactly alike. Many of the news outlets that picked up the original article had Fred doomed because of Dobson's one statement.

It did give me some trouble because the statement on its own is judgmental, not in a secular sense as in "don't tell me how to live my life," but in the Biblical sense, as in "only God knows the heart so I don't get to judge other Christians." And if anyone should know that, it would be Dobson. But the same media is going to try to use people like Dobson to suit their purpose, so I guess we have to consider the source before we get too excited.

Here's the response from Dobson's organization:
Focus Clarifies Dr. Dobson's Comments on Sen. Thompson

Dobson weighs in on FDT

James Dobson tells US News & World Report he believes Thompson is not a Christian, and praises Newt Gingrich.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Read full article:
USNews.com: Nation & World: Dobson Offers Insight on 2008 Republican Hopefuls

Santorum: McCain's alienation of conservatives will create vacuum

Rick Santorum's take on McCain's candidacy and how it could leave room for another candidate (emphasis mine):

"John McCain was front and center [following that election]," Santorum observes. "The problem is that John McCain has [not] governed over the last several years as anything like a conservative ...." And in the process, Santorum feels the Arizona senator "has alienated just about every conservative, whether it's social conservatives or economic conservatives or environmental -- you name it."

According to the former senator, McCain -- who has been a member of Congress since 1982 -- actively recruits and votes in a manner that moves the country away from conservative principles.

"That's not someone who's going to go out and then claim the conservative banner, as he's trying to do in this election," Santorum says of McCain. "So he's created a vacuum -- and as a result of that, Rudy's been able to assert himself."

Santorum, now a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, predicts McCain's campaign will fade; and consequently, he says, someone else will become the major challenger to Giuliani and then the race "will really start to take shape."

Read full article...

Are we really doing the stupid voter thing again?

"But it does mean that people answering polls two weeks out from a TV appearance where the former Tennessee senator declared he might think about running for president don't know much about his record or his policy positions. He's had a presence on talk radio, and he guided John Roberts through the Senate, but this is still a relatively low-key public profile — most people are just getting to know him."

Ryan Sager at the New York Sun underestimates the ability and willingness of folks to investigate Fred's record and his policy positions. I know how to do research, thank you. The numbers we've seen in the last couple of days, with no formal effort underway, speak volumes about what potential voters are looking for.

And I completely disagree with his assertion that he has a low-key public profile. This can't be taken from a media radar perspective. He served real, live constituents in Tennessee and has amassed enough of a record in the Senate to know where he stands. For the record, I've never actually seen him on Law & Order, so I'm not basing anything on that.

Read full article...

GOP Straw Polls

Keeps getting better - the latest rundown from GOP Straw Polls on the 2008 race. There's some other good info behind this link about potential voters:
http://www.gopstrawpolls.com/pollresults.php

Draft Fred Thompson is down

Looks like the WorldNetDaily site has done the trick for getting the message out there. Draftfredthompson.com is down and is moving to a faster server.

Grassroots effort mentioned on WorldNetDaily

Great mention of the grassroots effort on WorldNetDaily.com; they list the web sites at the root of the effort and give a quick rundown of leadership support throughout the US. WorldNetDaily has a lot of conservative readers (a daily must-read for me) so this is a good thing.

For sure, Thompson seems to be exciting the Republican base in Tennessee. His political mentor, former Senate minority leader Howard Baker, has signed on in support. Sen. Bill Frist, former Senate majority leader, who considered a presidential run himself, has said he would support a Thompson bid.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the first Republican in that office since 1867, has joined the draft Thompson movement.

A third representative from Tennessee, freshman David Davis, also has agreed to become a member of the committee, according to Wamp and Duncan.

Thompson plans to travel to Washington April 18 to meet with 40-members of Congress interested in a Thompson campaign.

The co-chairmen said they believed scores of other prominent leaders from Tennessee and across the country will be joining the draft movement in the next several weeks.

Read the full article...

Fred and global warming

Newt Gingrich was on O"Reilly tonight, discussing the mainstream media's impact on this race already. The consensus was that it's a given fact they won't be fair, and the bias will be obvious. A Republican candidate is going to have to get over it and have no expectation of fairness (duh!).

It made me wonder how FDT might fare under the frenzied spotlight of global warming, an issue the media has managed to position front and center in the last eight months. Clearly he's not bought into the frenzy, and given the circus around Al Gore's "the planet has a fever" testimony, it seems the media is going to try to really nail candidates on this one issue.

David Roberts' blog on the Huffington Post might foreshadow some of those feelings.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-roberts/fred-thompson_b_44304.html

USA Today/Gallup Poll (3/23 - 3/25)

FDT came in third among Republicans, behind Giuliani and McCain. Romney drops to 3%, down from 8% just earlier this month.

Read the full article from USA Today...

Table for two, please....

This little bite from the Washington Post...FDT and Ed Gillespie having lunch at the Mayflower. Let's hope they weren't just discussing the Anna Nicole Smith autopsy results:

Sources say Thompson, currently of "Law and Order" fame," and Gillespie were locked in a serious conversation, even though they were repeatedly interrupted by conventioneer types - aka, real people - wanting to chat with the actor/politician. No one we spoke with heard the "P" word come out of Thompson's mouth but it appeared the lunch was "intense," according to one source.

Read full article...

Nebraska jumping on board

The Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom is starting a "Draft Fred" initiative.

Read article....

Poll: Thompson Tied with Clinton

This poll does have Obama with a slight lead over Thompson, but this is pretty incredible, since Fred's not even in the race yet.

"The first Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey involving Thompson shows the former Senator from Tennessee essentially tied with the Democratic frontrunner, Senator Hillary Clinton. It’s Thompson 44% Clinton 43%."

Read the article...

Get involved

Sign the online petitions
Several petition drives are underway to convince Fred to run. Register for these sites and sign the petition to show him there is real support in seeing his name on the ballot in 2008.

• http://www.fred08.com
• http://www.petitiononline.com
• http://www.grassrootsvoter.com
• http://www.gopusa.com

Talk to people
Let your friends and neighbors know of Fred's potential run. Chances are they mainly know him from Law & Order and the movies. Let them know where he stands on important issues.

Publish a web site
Sites like Blogger and WordPress are free, and make it easy to start your own Fred Thompson blog. Request other blogs to add you to their blogroll. MySpace has several Fred Thompson profiles already online; start another one or send a friend request to one of the existing ones.

Buy t-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers
Several vendor sites are springing up selling t-shirts and other items to promote a Fred Thompson 2008 run. Buy some stuff and give it to your friends! Here are some sites I've run across so far:

• Official Thompson Store
  
• Cafe Press
  

Commentary on Paul Harvey's show - March 23

Fred discusses the impact of the "1984 Hillary" ad and how election advertising has irreversibly changed.

(audio)
http://www.fred08.com/images/3-23_AM_COMMENT.mp3

Interview with Laura Ingraham - 3/21

Laura Ingraham talks with Fred about Iraq, the rest of the Middle East, the Alberto Gonzales issue, and the potential for a presidential run.

(audio)
http://www.fred08.com/images/INGRAM.mp3

Fox News Sunday Interview - March 11, 2007

Part 1





Part 2