Beware of hyperventilating pundits who are calling it a "shakeup". Collamore and company were brought in to build this thing, not run it. Just like you get a team to design and build the race car, now you need a team to drive it and keep it in the race. The "gurus" are now stepping in, with a campaign that is apparently assembled to Fred's specifications. So now we see how well things go. I also believe this means no chance of an announcement for the next couple of weeks while they get settled in and start initial maneuvering. And with August 11 Iowa looming, they are probably going to have to wait. Still, there is always the possibility of a surprise - and that would bring Fred's announcement in on July 28 (by the 31st), for tax/funding reasons. So I'll go back and stand by my July 28 prediction.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Fred Thompson to announce July 9 ?
That's what I'm hearing. If I can substantiate it, I will. I've also heard the 16th back a month ago, but July 9 seems to be causing a lot of ripples in the pond.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
June 4th start to Fund Raising?
This is FAR sooner than anyone I have talked to has heard. I've heard July, not June.
According to NBC's Chuck Todd, Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson had a conference call with 100+ donor-fundraiser types today to formally explore a presidential bid.
They are opening their "testing the waters" phase on June 4th. Remember, "testing the waters" is a technical FEC term to limit what they have to report on the June 30th financial disclosure reporting deadline.
Courtesy of WNBC News NY
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Ask Fred's Ex: Lorrie Morgan cheers Fred on!
Pretty unusual that his ex-wife has said she would love to help him campaign, and now here is one of his former girlfriends, Country singer Lorrie Morgan, saying good things as well. I think this speaks well for the man's character. Lorrie Morgan says her former boyfriend, Fred Thompson, would make a great president. Lorrie, who dated Fred for a couple of years in the mid-’90s, told Ralph Emery on his RFD-TV show “Live” that she definitely thinks Fred is presidential material. “I always thought it,” she said. “I used to beg him to run for president. I used to say, ‘If you were in the White House, I would be so safe-feeling. I could go to sleep at night and know that everything was taken care of up there.’” ... “Fred is an extremely smart man, but yet when you talk to him you feel you’re on his level,” she said. “He would listen to what I had to say about him running, but Fred didn’t really need my advice about anything. I think that Fred Thompson is one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life, honestly.” Courtesy of Great American Country
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tenn Sen & Gov Lamar Alexander canvassing for Fred Thompson
Good to see the top pols telling folks to keep their powder dry until Fred is in. Shame ours out here in Colorado are trying to sell out way too early and to Giuliani and Romney. Bleh. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander is calling around to former senior staffers of his presidential campaigns in New Hampshire, telling them they should get to know fellow Tennessean Fred Thompson. [The Rest of the Story] Since Thompson, the actor and former senator, said he was thinking about a run for president, national polls have shown him running in second place for the Republican nomination, trailing only former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Two former staffers confirmed to the Globe they have talked to Alexander. Thompson has yet to make any calls to the state, but Alexander is encouraging his former supporters to “keep their powder dry.” Courtesy of James Pindell blogging at the Boston Globe Good campaign news all over the place Wednesday
Monday, March 26, 2007
Washinton Post Rumor: Fred Thompson will run!
Oh I can only say I hope this rumor is true!
Looks like Fred Thompson really isn't teasing about possibly running for president.
The actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee was spotted having lunch today at the see-and-be-seen Mayflower hotel restaurant with GOP Party guru Ed Gillespie, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee who has advised and groomed many a successful GOP candidate over the years.
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.
Courtesy of Mary Ann Akers "The Sleuth" Blogger at the Washington Post
Hunt for a Fred November
Clever pun on Fred Thompson's appearance as Adm Josh Painter in The Hunt For Red October (Funny, I know a good Army SSG named Josh Painter). Another columnist that backs Fred Dalton Thompson.
Republicans have been going through a process not uncommon in politics. They’ve been looking over the field in the race and wondering if there isn’t a faster horse that has yet to enter.
If Thompson seeks the Republican nomination, he’ll win it, unless there is some as-yet-unknown oversized skeleton lurking in his political closet.
He’ll win for three reasons:
He’s a southerner with conservative credentials in national government service
He’s a personality in an age of personality-driven politics
He will out-presence his opponents
Courtesy of George Korda of the Knoxville News and Sentinel
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Novak: Fred's wife Jeri says Run Fred, Run!
Robert Novak reports that Fred's wife Jeri is encourgaing him to run - Fred listen to your wife!
Close friends of Fred Thompson say his wife Jeri is urging him to take the plunge later this year and run for the Republican presidential nomination.
The former senator from Tennessee and current actor on "Law & Order," in private conversation, makes it clear that he is seriously interested in launching a candidacy that has attracted extraordinary attention over the last two weeks.
Courtesy of Robert Novak at Real Clear Politics
Friday, March 23, 2007
A former Fred Thompson Senatorial staffer speaks
Found this jewel of a piece by an 8 year Fred Thompson Senatorial Staffer:
I have heard the arguments why Fred will not run: he doesn’t like to campaign; he doesn’t have the fire in his belly; he won't leave a great gig like Law and Order; it’s just a stunt to boost his speaking fees and profile on Law and Order; it goes on and on. But some of those arguments were the same ones that were raised when he first ran for the Senate. Other arguments assume a level of cynicism that is completely out of character for the guy for whom I worked for eight years. If ever there were an opportunity to grandstand, it was the U.S. Senate. He never did it.
The Fred Thompson I know first ran for the Senate out of a sense of duty and obligation. He left his law and acting career for the grind of the campaign and the office because he felt that the country was heading in the wrong direction and the Senate need more people in it who were there to do what was right and not just be a senator.
I have to agree that I am not that excited about any of the current crop of presidential candidates, but I am atwitter about Thompson. Not out of some self-serving motivation, but because I think the country needs someone like Fred. Unlike every other candidate running, being president is not something that has been percolating in his brain since he became an adult—or in Bill Clinton’s case, since boyhood. I have more confidence in someone who seeks the office because of a sense of duty than someone who merely covets the office.
You can read the whole thing hereThe author is Kelvin Moxley (He is the third entry down on that page)
His Bio: Tennessee native Kelvin Moxley is a long-time Conservative activist. He has had a distinguished career in (Tenn) state and national politics serving as editor and publisher of the Conservative Spectator and policy analyst for United States Senator Fred Thompson during Thompson’s eight-year Senate career.
Courtesy of Columnist/Blogger Michael Silence of KnoxNews
(Bumped from last night at 22:00 for today's reader)
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Thompson "Campaign" approaching experienced campaign hands in key states
Some older data (3/14) about the nascent "virtual" Fred Thompson campaign (apparently covertly and quietly) looking to line up campaign pros.
"Thompson effectively embraced the Republican right when he ran for and entered the U.S. Senate. From the perspective of the Republican Party's conservative base, he stacks up well against each of the "Big Three" leading Republican candidates. His voting record (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 86%) in the Senate is more conservative than that of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (lifetime ACU rating: 82%), none of his position-switches are nearly as bad or as recent as those of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), and nothing in his background is as negative as that of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R)."
Courtesy of Evans and Novak (newsletter, no link) by way of Political Wire
