It's Monday, April 2, a new week in a new month - and a new edition of The Daily Fred, a regular round-up of news and blog coverage and commentary about Fred Thompson, the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee whose surprise announcement a few weeks ago that he was considering running for president continues to shake up the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
We start with results from week ten of the Pajamas Media straw poll which shows, not surprisingly, that Thompson is a hit in the conservative blogosphere. Glenn Reynolds has the latest numbers: "On the Republican side, newcomer Fred Thompson emerged in first with 34.9% followed by Ron Paul at 29.00%. Previous winner Rudy Giuliani fell back to third with 12.7%. (On the Democratic side, results remained the same: Bill Richardson far ahead of runner-up Barack Obama)." Follow the link for more numbers and analysis.
Columnist Robert D. Novak writes:
In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has improbably transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in national polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles because he is filling the conservative void in the Republican field of candidates. More important than the polling data is his backing within the political community. Buyer's remorse is expressed by several House members who had endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Romney.
Sophisticated social conservative activists tell me they cannot vote for Giuliani under any conditions and have no rapport with McCain or Romney. They do not view Sen. Sam Brownback, representing the social right, as a viable candidate. They are coming to see Thompson as the only conservative who can be nominated.
None of the "big three" Republicans has been as consistently conservative as Thompson on tax policy, national security and abortion.
Novak says Thompson isn't just considering running - he's already running.
The principal complaint about Thompson concerns not his ideology but his work ethic. The rap is that he does not burn the midnight oil -- the identical criticism of Reagan before and during his presidency. That carping may betray resentment that Thompson has emerged as a full-blown candidate without backbreaking campaign travel and tedious fund-raising.
Thompson's critics assert that, bored with his lucrative career as an actor, he has enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame created by a chance TV interview and will not really run. But he privately assures friends that this is for real. His performance on "Fox News Sunday" was no accident. He went on the program for the purpose of unveiling his possible candidacy.
Thompson's announcement on Fox News Sunday a few weeks ago was not a casual thing - it was followed by a rapid roll-out of Fred in a variety of media.
And now, on to the rest of today's Daily Fred...
...Bigtime Republican fundraiser Ted Welch signals - loudly - that, if Mitt Romney drops out of the race, Welch will back Thompson. The Tennessean reports.
...Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. says John McCain lost the lead to Rudy Giuliani because he was being too careful, and now Giuliani is losing his lead to Thompson for the same reason.
...The Washington Times looks at the race within the race - the race to raise money, hire staff and build a "ground operation" in key primary states - and says "campaign observers" believe potential candidates Thompson and Newt Gingrich "cannot wait much longer to decide whether to enter the presidential race, because this front-loaded primary schedule means the Republican nomination this time will likely be decided by Feb. 5."
...Former Thompson staffer Rob Huddleston says on his blog, "After speaking with several people close to the situation, I am convinced that Tennessee's own, Fred Thompson, will be a candidate for President of the United States. I expect that we will hear something official within the next 5 weeks."
...Thompson, who won Al Gore's old Senate seat after Gore was elected vice president, may never face the global-warming hype master in a real election (though if he did he'd win Tennessee in a walk). But the two are in a contest of sorts in the Tennessee state legislature. Ben Cunningham has the details and the YouTubery.
...In case you missed it over the weekend, video of Thompson speaking at a Nashville church service five days after the September 11 terror attack, showed up over the weekend. ElephantBiz.com linked it here.
Comment Preview