Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Iowa blogger Krusty Konservative konsiders the possibility of Fred Thompson running for president, and likes it.

The only other kandidate in the race with a larger than life persona is Rudy Giuliani. I’m part of the minority who thinks Rudy will do well in Iowa, but if konservatives can find a candidate to solidify around, Giuliani and the other candidates will find winning Iowa to be an extremely task.

I'm guessing the missing word is "difficult" as in "extremely difficult task."

Krusty kontinues...

The main reason people are intrigued with Fred is because he’s non-apologetic konservative who thinks Roe v. Wade is bad law and should be overturned, opposes gay marriage, opposes gun kontrol, and wants to win the war in Iraq.

The other advantage Fred Thompson would have is he is the only candidate from the south. It is extremely important for Republicans to nominate a candidate who can lock up the South so we can focus on battle ground states. I constantly wonder how well McCain, Romney or Giuliani would do in the South.

Krusty says Thompson should get into the race now.

If he does wait, kandidates like Mike Huckabee, Jim Gilmore, and Tom Tancredo need to get to Iowa and make some serious noise. The more time they let go by without ramping up their Iowa operations, the easier it for a kandidate like Fred Thompson to swoop in and take all the momentum.

Fred is no threat to Huckabee, Gilmore and Tancredo, who don't have any visible momentum. But Thompson's potential candidacy IS a huge threat to Mitt Romney, whom many conservatives don't yet trust thanks to his flip-flopping on key issues. Fred also is a big threat to the already-downward-spiraling John McCain, and also for Rudy Giuliani, whose strength among conservatives is predicated on the notion that he's the most electable candidate in the GOP field, despite his liberalism on some key social issues and his messy personal life.

If Thomson runs, he at least ties Giuliani in the "can win in November" column, and is more aligned with the party's social conservatives than Giuliani while also lining up well with the party's fiscal conservatives and defense/foreign-policy hawks.

If Thompson runs, the GOP field that matters will quickly shrink to two or possibly three candidates - Thompson, Giuliani and perhaps Romney.

There are a few issues that could hamper Thompson's presidential ambitions. I'll discuss those in my next post.