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According to the 2008 Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll, Fred Thompson received quite the lift in numbers within a few days of his official announcement to run for President. There appears to be no rock star mania forming in the days since which is not a surprise. What is also not a surprise is the reaction to his candidacy by various sources including the main stream media. The two accounts below are tame reports of Fred Thompson visiting his hometown as his campaign begins in earnest, post announcement.

Fred Thompson Gets Warm Welcome
Associated Press
September 15, 2007 9:03 p.m.

LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. — Fred Thompson has made his hometown of Lawrenceburg the site for his first public appearance in Tennessee since announcing his bid for the presidency.

Fred Thompson gets warm welcome in hometown
WBIR-TV, TN
Fred Thompson returned to his hometown Saturday for his first Tennessee event since announcing his presidential candidacy. Thompson greeted friends and …

Then comes the not too subtle report from the New York Times about a Thompson stop in Florida. Make sure you offer one pro-Thompson quote from one member of the audience. Then try to invent a gaffe over a small talk comment. Bring up earlier lame criticism of the candidate and rerun it. Leave an unsuspecting reader with as bad an impression of the candidate as you can. This from a newspaper made recently famous for plagiarizing staff and the inability to use restraint and weigh first amendment rights against national security.

Sparse Schedule for Thompson on Trail
By JULIE BOSMAN
September 16, 2007
LAKELAND, Fla., Sept. 15 — At his second campaign stop of the day on Friday, just after 2 p.m., Fred D. Thompson was deep into a riff on the benefits of high-quality American health care.

Aside from media reports and opinions on candidates there is always the less than reassuring numbers from all the various polling data about the coming election. Together with the poll mentioned at the top of this post, Angus-Reid and AP submit polling data that Thompson is in a GOP field of candidates with no front runner. The Democratic party opposition would like everyone to believe this is good news for them. You could also draw the conclusion that it is real early yet and the GOP candidates offer voters a larger contingent of appealing choices.

Republicans 2008: Giuliani 34%, Thompson 22%
September 16, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Rudy Giuliani is holding on to the top position in the race for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in the United States, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 34 per cent of respondents would support the New York City mayor in a 2008 primary.

AP Poll: GOP Presidential Race a Toss-Up
By ALAN FRAM – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — White men, conservatives, evangelicals and other pivotal blocs are divided among the Republican Party’s leading contenders for president, leaving the race for the 2008 GOP nomination highly fluid, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

A report from WaPo begins by discounting Fred Thompson and alleging the GOP field has flaws to overcome in order to distinguish a front runner. Stating the GOP race is more competitive now seems an obvious conclusion and more plausible than the flawed theory proposed by WaPo or vaguely disclosed sources. Then next several paragraphs from WaPo mostly ‘diss’ the GOP.

Once they stop dissin’ the field, some interesting strategy views are expressed. One saying the Romney camp has nothing to win right now based on an early state strategy while Thompson hopes to survive Iowa and NH and then win in the South.

Another Entry, but Still a Jumbled GOP Race
The Top Contenders, All Seen as Flawed, Struggle for a Message
By Dan Balz and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 16, 2007; A05

The contest for the Republican presidential nomination remains without a clear front-runner in a field of candidates still scrambling to find a message.

With the Dems you get Hillary Rodham Clinton or Hillary Rodham Clinton. With the GOP the choice is still open. While Giuliani is the most liberal of GOP candidates, all of them offer more strength and less social whining than their Democratic party counterparts. While many like to sneer after the 2006 midterms, the Congressional approval rating being lower than a term limited President’s do not guarantee left victory for the White House in 2008. Fred Thompson’s entry to the race has at the very least increased the ability to hone the conservative view and more carefully define which of several GOP candidates can best deliver the solutions this country needs.

BTW, here are a few facts about Fred Dalton Thompson that should be free of debate…..

THOMPSON, Fred Dalton,
born in Sheffield, Ala., on August 19, 1942;
attended the public schools in Lawrenceburg, Tenn.;
graduated from Memphis State University 1964;
received J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University 1967;
admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1967 and commenced the practice of law;
assistant U.S. attorney 1969-1972;
minority counsel, Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (“Watergate Committee”) 1973-1974;
special counsel to Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander 1980;
special counsel, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1980-1981;
special counsel, Senate Intelligence Committee 1982;
member, Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission 1985-1987;
actor;
elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in the November 8, 1994, special election to fill the unexpired portion of the term ending January 3, 1997, left vacant by the resignation of Albert Gore, Jr.;
took the oath of office on December 2, 1994;
reelected in 1996 for the term ending January 3, 2003;
not a candidate for reelection in 2002;
chair, Committee on Governmental Affairs (One Hundred Fifth and One Hundred Sixth Congresses; One Hundred Seventh Congress [January 20, 2001-June 6, 2001]);
resumed acting career.
(source: senate.gov, biographical guide)

Stanford Matthews
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, GOP, Democrats, News Media, thompson, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.