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May31
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Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post says John McCain has gone "on offense" regarding illegal immigration. No, he's not going on offense against illegal immigrants, but against critics of the "compromise" reform plan he helped engineer which critics say amounts to amnesty for illegals. Cillizza writes: No issue animates the Republican base like immigration. And, in the days following the announcement of a bipartisan deal on the issue, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) found himself on the receiving end of a series of body blows from his presidential rivals -- most notably former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) -- who attacked the agreement as nothing more than amnesty. Privately, the McCain campaign seethed at the characterization that he was backing amnesty; they argued that his work on the issue was a prototypical example of his willingness to tackle tough issues and try to find solutions to them. While President Bush has begun to make that same case, it's clear the McCain people are now taking matters into their own hands. Over the last week, McCain has made a flurry of appearances on conservative talk radio television to sell the plan. He's been on "The Mike Gallagher Show," Sean Hannity's radio show," The Michael Medved Show," "Captain's Quarters Blog Radio" as well as local radio programs in South Carolina, Iowa and Arizona. He also appeared last night on "The O'Reilly Factor" McCain will continue the offensive through Monday when he has a major immigration address plan aimed at making his case to the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce in Coral Gables, Fla. The argument? Doing nothing amounts to the very amnesty that conservatives are railing against.
It's a silly argument. The 12 million aren't going anywhere, that's true, but that really just means we don't have to compromise - we can insist on doing the border security and fence first, before doing anything about the 12 million who are already here. But, really, McCain has no choice. He has to defend the immigration plan - it's, basically, his baby. Politically, he's an a no-win situation. If he walks away from the immigration plan he looks like a weakling shifting with the political winds rather than a leader. In going "on offense" for his plan he is showing strength and character of leadership - but he's trying to lead people where they don't want to go. In going on offense for his immigration plan, John McCain is going on offense against a large segment of the Republican Party. You've got to admire his courage and sincerity. You just shouldn't expect him to win the nomination.
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May31
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National Public Radio compares the words of former Sen. Fred Thompson, (R-TN) with those of the actor Fred Dalton Thompson, star of TV's Law and Order. I'm going to guess there are a lot of similarities.Thompson has mostly played characters not...
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The Christian Science Monitor assesses the Fred Thompson candidacy and who among the rest of the field his entry into the race hurts the most. Interesting points made in the story:Analysts note that the Republican field's fundraising totals for the...
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The writer of the Colorado for Thompson blog, who goes by the online name "Ordinary Coloradan," has written an analysis of how he thinks Fred Thompson's entry into the Republican presidential field will affect the other candidates in the race.Romney:...
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Arkansas Interim US Attorney Tim Griffin, who is stepping down from that post, is rumored to be headed for a top position in the nascent Fred Thompson presidential campaign. Blogger MacRanger likes the choice, despite some Lefty bloggers noting Griffin's...
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Is Fred Thompson the GOP's Wesley Clark - a seemingly attractive candidate who will fade? No, says Dave Weigel at the Reason blog, he's the GOP's Barack Obama. Weigel:The Thompson movement isn't much like the Clark movement. Republicans like Thompson...
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Fred Thompson hasn't officially declared his candidacy, but he's already got a growing group of pro-Thompson bloggers pounding the keyboards on his behalf. The website Blogs for Thompson aggregates pro-Fred bloggers - about five dozen so far. Also, a number of...
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Following up on a previous post about the upcoming Ames Straw Poll in Iowa August 11, it turns out that Fred Thompson's name may be on the straw poll ballot whether he decides to compete in the event or not.So reports Jonathan...
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Ethan Boivie at PoliticalDerby.com reports that Rudy Giuliani, campaigning in California, told supporters that he is the only Republican in the race with enough liberal appeal to carry left-leaning, electoral-vote-heavy states such as California and New York in the presidential...
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This is not a good news story if your name is Rudy Giuliani and you're running for the Republican presidential nomination. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, a prodigious fundraiser who will campaign today in California, is partner in a law firm...
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Writing at HughHewitt.com, Dean Barnett, a supporter of Mitt Romney, examines the new dynamics of the race for the GOP presidential nomination now that Fred Thompson has jumped in.1) As an avowed Romney supporter, you must be ready to jump...
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The New York Times looks at Fred Thompson's impact on the Republican presidential field.Anthony Carbonetti, an adviser to Rudy Giuliani, downplayed any concern in the Giuliani campaign that Thompson might, as the NYT writers put it, "run strongly among voters...
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Although Fred Thompson's entry into the Republican presidential race represents a direct challenge to a basic rationale for Mitt Romney's campaign, Romney said yesterday that he would welcome Thompson into the race for the GOP presidential nomination, the AP reports. ...
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Mike Allen at The Politico says that Mark Corallo of Corallo Comstock Inc., is one of the busiest men in Washington DC these days, and for good reason: Corallo, a media strategist and former Justice Department public affairs director, is the...
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Ever watched the PGA golf tournament that comes on TV a week after the Master's? Usually it is won by some unknown golfer as most of the world's best golfers take the week off to rest after four grueling rounds at...
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Could immigration hardliner Tom Tancredo find fertile ground for his presidential bid in Iowa? The Chicago Tribune thinks so.Tancredo is greeted with cheerful backslaps inside a crowded truck-stop diner that is minutes from an Indian reservation casino outside Sioux City....
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Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is trying to make "his" plan for fixing Iraq a centerpiece of his campaign, but this week he issued what I consider to be irresponsible statement on the war.Thompson said the war in Iraq "may...
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Turk at Kung Fu Quip digs deeply into Fred Thompson's voting record and past statements on such issues as national security, public corruption, Social Security and campaign reforms, and concludes that Thompson "may well be the only real Republican in...
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Stephen Bainbridge blogs about business, law, wine, politics and other interesting things, and today he explains why he's happy that Fred Thompson is running for president:The last President I really liked also was a former actorLifetime 86 rating from the...
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The Wichita Eagle likes the new compromise immigration reform proposal rattling around in Washington D.C., but wonders when Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback will take a position on it:Just when it looked as if comprehensive immigration reform had no chance for...
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Robert Novak says the coming Fred Thompson campaign will be different from the rest of the Republican field "in both substance and style."Thompson implied at Stamford that Republicans, along with Democrats, are responsible for making Americans cynical. While so far...
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The Tennessean rounds up some Tennessee reaction to Fred Thompson becoming a presidential candidate, including what's happening in his hometown of Lawrenceburg:In Thompson's hometown of Lawrenceburg, a group of locals formed a steering committee two weeks ago to prepare the...
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Will Fred Thompson's Senate vote for the McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" law hurt him with conservative voters? Amanda Carpenter at TownHall.com suggests it might not:While Thompson is popular with grassroots conservatives, his support for his longtime friend John McCain’s (R.-Ariz.)...
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May30
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With former Sen. Fred Thompson about to declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, I thought I'd provide ElephantBiz.com readers with a list of the many posts about or mentioning Fred Thompson since word of a possible bid started...
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David Boaz, executive VP of the libertarian Cato Institute, says libertarian Republicans ought to be wary of the authoritarian Rudy Giuliani.Behind Rudy Giuliani's impressive lead in the polls is one fact that puzzles the pundits: Many cultural conservatives are backing...
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USA Today says it's unofficially official: Fred Thompson is running for president.Politician-turned-actor Fred Thompson plans an unconventional campaign for president using blogs, video posts and other Internet innovations to reach voters repelled by politics-as-usual in both parties, he told USA...
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Here's the MSNBC video report of Fred Thompson's preparations to run for president. And here's the text version of the story by MSNBC Political Director Chuck Todd. Interesting point from the video: Todd points out that there is as much...
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Ad Age magazine says Democrats Have an Early Lead ... in the Web 2.0 Race, but the Republicans are "catching up as both parties realize MySpace and other social-networking sites can't be ignored." Much of the story echoes my previous...
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Andrew Breitbart of Breitbart.com and Breitbart.tv has worked for both Matt Drudge and Arianna Huffington, the biggest of the best New Media, Right and Left, respectively, so he's got a rather unique perspective on things. In part one of a fascinating...
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Hugh Hewitt starts a "dead pool" on John McCain's presidential campaign Hewitt, a Mitt Romney supporter, writes, "The entrant who comes closest to predicting the date that John McCain officially takes his faltering jalopy of a campaign off the road will win an...
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The Washington Times interview of Andrew Breitbart of Breitbart.com and Breitbart.tv has some very interesting Q&A about the Internet as it impacts media and politics. Don't miss it....
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FairTax.org has republished a recent editorial from the Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle about the growing Fair Tax movement, after some 7,000 Fair Tax supporters rallied at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, S.C., across the street from the Republican presidential debate.Imagine if...
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GOP presidential long-shot Mike Huckabee, assailed by some fiscal conservatives unhappy with his record as governor of Arkansas, has endorsed the "Fair Tax" concept of replacing personal income taxes and corporate taxes with a national sales tax. Endorsing the Fair Tax may help...
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Matt Felling of CBS News and Carl Cannon at National Journal are each writing about a subject raised by Cannon when he wondered where media's line is between what is "Relevant" and what is "Prurient." It's an interesting discussion, as...
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John Stossel's latest column, "The Double 'Thank-You' Moment," is on the wisdom of free trade, is a must-read. Real Clear Politics has it here. Here's an excerpt:Economists have long understood that two people trade because each wants what the other...
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The Weekly Standard's Stephen F. Hayes explains the latest evolution in Fred Thompson's campaign for the presidency.In a conference call Monday, Thompson addressed a group of more than 100 supporters and fundraisers whom the campaign has dubbed First Day Founders....
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St. Petersburg Times columnist Adam C. Smith looks at why Mike Huckabee might be the surprise candidate of the GOP presidential field - and why former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley endorsed him.No question Huckabee had the one-liner of the...
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Texas Republican congressman and long-shot presidential candidate Ron Paul is "another kind of conservative," says this writer.Emerging from the back of the stage to a vociferous round of applause from the audience, Ron Paul quickly took a seat next to...
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Having previously said he could vote for a pro-choice Republican, super-long-shot GOP presidential candidate Sam Brownback now predicts the Republican Party will not nomiate a pro-choice candidate for the presidency. The anti-abortion/pro-life website LifeNews.com reports......
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Mitt Romney says that if he's elected president he'll donate the job's $400,000 annual pay to charity. Romney's worth an estimated $250 million from his days as an investment banker.Romney didn't keep his $135,000 annual salary as governor of Massachusetts. Wealthy politicos turning...
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The headline screams "Romney criticized for Mormon faith," but story isn't what you think.Mitt Romney's visit to New Hampshire started on a sour note Tuesday when a restaurant patron declared he would not vote for the Republican presidential contender because...
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May29
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The Draft Newt folks are excited about this story from the Orange County Register:Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's book tour ostensibly was the reason for his Thursday visit to the Nixon Library, but most of his tour stops, it also...
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Fresh after today's story in The Politico asserting that Rudy Giuliani is winning over socially-conservative Republican voters (even though, at 30 percent, he's failing to win over 70 percent of them), comes a new website, Social Conservatives for Rudy Giuliani...
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Power Line spots a Mitt Romney surge - and says Fred Thompson missed his chance to deliver a knockout blow to Romney's campaign by waiting three months to enter the race:The latest Rasmussen poll shows Mitt Romney's support among Republicans...
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Ken Yarmosh of Technosight surveys the online landscape that Fred Thompson will face as he runs for president, in this thoughtful piece at the American Thinker:The former Senator from Tennessee shares commonalities with President Reagan but will campaign in a...
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Fred Thompson hasn't officially declared he's running for president, but he's begun raising money for a possible race, reports USA Today.In a conference call with about 100 people -- many of whom have urged him to jump in the race...
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The Politico has the must-read story of the day, suggesting that social conservatives are increasingly backing a presidential candidate who isn't.Rudy Giuliani, whose positions on abortion and homosexuality mark him as the most socially liberal Republican presidential candidate in more...
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May26
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Blogs open the doors of politics to everyone, writes Bakersfield Californian newspaper columnist Vic Pollard:Millions of people who probably would never relate to politics and politicians in the traditional way have found ways to connect to it through the Internet.Through...
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May25
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If you've been wondering how the friendship between former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain would affect the presidential race and Thompson's decision to run, I think you can stop wondering. Thursday night in Connecticut, Thompson laid into McCain's...
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Ryan Sager of the New York Sun attended Fred Thompson's speech to the COnnecticut Republican Party's annual Prescott Bush Dinner and says it looks like "this guy's ready to go for it."If Mr. Thompson had harsh words for his Republican...
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Tennessee political news blogger A.C. Kleinheider explains why it is a Big Deal that Tennessee congressman Marsha Blackburn has switched allegiance from Mitt Romney to the undeclared candidate Fred Thompson in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination:This is...
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Here's a round-up statements from the current "Big Three" Republican presidential candidates regarding the Congressional vote on funding for the Iraq war:John McCain tears into Sen. Barack Obama for voting against funding for the Iraq war.Rudy Giuliani's comments on the...
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A.C. Kleinheider has some advice for campaigns in the age of social media:What the rise of YouTube and blogs should teach anyone involved in politics is that you cannot micromanage and protect a campaign the same way anymore. There was...
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Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, says there's political danger ahead for the Republican Party in the immigration reform debate.For a certain kind of conservative, any attempt to grant a legal status to illegal immigrants is as...
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U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, has endorsed Fred Thompson for president, dropping her previous endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The official unofficial Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee made the announcement...In another sign of growing Thompson momentum, Congressman Marsha...
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May21
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A few weeks ago I did a little research for a client that involved creating a list of Republican, conservative or libertarian-leaning political blogs in Oklahoma. Coming from the robust Tennessee political blogosphere, heavily populated by a number of well-read (and well-written)...
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ABC News's "Political Radar" blog has some interesting news about Fred Thompson:Former senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has been out office for more than four years now, but he chose this past weekend to close the political action committee he’s had...
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Here's a report from Fred Thompson's speech to the attendees at the convention of the National Restaurant Association in Chicago this past weekend....the crowd of restaurant professionals ate it up, giving Thompson a standing ovation as he entered and another...
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May20
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Blogger N.Z. Bear has posted an electronic copy of the immigration reform bill online in a format that allows readers to easily access individual parts of the very complex bill, and o post comments about it online. He explains what he...
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A year ago, in a speech from the Oval Office, President Bush said this:I believe that illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law, to...
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial page columnist Salena Zito wonders if Fred Thompson's 38-second video reply to Democratic propaganda filmmaker Michael Moore was a watershed for Thompson, for traditional media or for new media. It was all three, actually - and a...
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Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore "has become the self-appointed pit bull of the 2008 Republican presidential campaign," says a Washington Post story on the wires. His goal: Make primary voters realize that, unlike the front-runners Rudy Giuliani (in the polls), Mitt...
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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford isn't running for president, though many conservatives hope he will some day and his endorsement in the 2008 race is coveted both because he's the governor of a key early-primary state and also because he's...
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Chris Cilizza of The Washington Post explores how the Kerik factor might impact Rudy Giuliani's presidential hopes. Kerik, you might recall, is the controversial former New York City police chief tainted by scandal.Speaking from NBC's London bureau on Baltimore's proposed...
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Gannett News Service takes a look at Fred Thompson's pre-campaign strategy, and says that, while the "stealth strategy appears to be successful, its usefulness may be reaching an end."Talk directly to conservative voters by making extensive use of blogs, podcasts...
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May19
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Ex-Lousy President Jimmy Carter says the President George W. Bush administration is the "worst ever," a slam that's sure to cause a lot of folks to chuckle who spent much of the Carter years in the unemployment lines or dealing...
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Nashville Scene editor Liz Garrigan digs into the Fred Thompson persona in a special feature published in the Sunday Washington Post - and reveals that it's not an act but essentially the real Fred Thompson.Should Thompson announce, his general-election advantage...
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The Weekly Standard's Stephen F. Hayes gives the backstory on Fred Thompson's video response to leftwing propaganda filmmaker Michael Moore, and how it upstaged the May 15 Republican presidential debate.When Thompson and his advisers talk about running a "different kind...
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Fox News political analyst Dick Morris thinks there were two winners of the May 15 Republican presidential debate in South Carolina: Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.Enter Arkansas' Mike Huckabee with a stellar debate performance.When Huckabee compared Democratic...
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May18
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One of the first state legislators ever to have a blog, Utah state Rep. Stephen Urquhart, raised an interesting issue, about partisanship and civility on the blogs, during at a Personal Democracy Forum event. National Journal's "Technology Daily" has the report......
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Excellent post today in National Journal's "Technology Daily" today on how political campaigns "are now relying on blogs to 'test market' new messages with small, niche audiences before transforming them into full-release commercials and press releases." Reporting from the Online...
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The latest Harris Interactive poll has Rudy Giuliani in the lead and John McCain tied with the rising Fred Thompson, while Mitt Romney appears to be suffering the most from Thompson's prospective candidacy, losing 6 points since a month ago...
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Peggy Noonan weighs in on Fred Thompson's unCampaign:He is running a great campaign. It's just not a declared campaign. It's a guerrilla campaign whose informality is meant to obscure his intent. It has been going on for months and is...
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RedState editorializes on the rush to pass immigration reform:We do not know whether the bill is good or bad. However, given the Senate's desire to hastily write it and rush it through sight unseen, we can infer that it is...
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Influential Christian-Right leader James Dobson has announced that he won't vote for Rudy Giuliani for president. Dobson explains why:How could Giuliani say with a straight face that he "hates" abortion," while also seeking public funding for it? How can he...
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Examiner.com reports that Fred Thompson's brief online video response to leftwing propaganda filmmaker Michael Moore's debate challenge is drawing far more viewers than any online clips from Tuesday's Republican presidential debate.If you’re Fred Thompson, you’ve got to be encouraged about jumping...
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Fred Thompson comments at RedState on the "compromise" immigration reform bill - which shrinks the border fence and expands the amnesty for illegal immigrants:With this bill, the American people are going to think they are being sold the same bill...
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May16
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Dan Riehl says the rumored "compromise" on illegal immigration legislation is a loser for the Republicans - and for the country.Republicans were given a wake up call in 2006; they've opted to hit snooze. Were this truly a fringe issue,...
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National Review Online has the transcript of Fred Thompson's speech Saturday to the members of the Council for National Policy. The speech is being panned in some quarters of the blogosphere, primarily because it wasn't much of a campaign stemwinder,...
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Patrick Ruffini of We Win, They Lose, reports on a new and potentially powerful project.This week, Congressman Eric Cantor launched his "Solutions Factory," a special Web site where you can submit, rate, and discuss your ideas for the future of...
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney often touts his "market-based" healthcare reform in Massachusetts as a model for the country, but the plan, which was being implemented as he left office, is already showing signs of significant problems.Sally C. Pipes, president...
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VoteVets.org, which has begun running attack ads against Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is ostensibly a grassroots group of soldiers against the war in Iraq, but in reality it is little more than a front group for the anti-war left wing...
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In an interview Monday with Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America," former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said there was a "great possibility" that he would run for president."You said you'll make a decision at the end of...
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May15
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President Bush more popular than Congress according to a new Gallup Poll, wich found public support for Congress has slipped below 30 percent. Just 29 percent of Americans approve of Congress, down from 33 percent in, while Bush's approval rating is holding...
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Former Sen. Fred Thompson has responded to leftwing film propagandist Michael Moore's suggestion that the two of them debate Cuba, health care and such - and done so with humor. Moore challenged Thompson to a debate after Thompson wrote a...
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The Tennessean profiles an East Tennessee Chevy dealer who, it says, "fueled [the] early draft-Fred drive" that has former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson on the verge of running for president. Not to claim that I did anything to prompt Thompson...
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May14
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The Washington Times reports today that "several leading Christian conservatives" say they will support former Sen. Fred Thompson in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.A prominent Roman Catholic social conservative says the three Republicans who have raised the most...
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Is John McCain mounting a comeback on the campaign trail? Bill Bradley, who writes the New West Notes blog for Pajamas Media, thinks so.With a lead in Nevada, a statistical tie in California, and a spirited performance at the first...
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Is John McCain mounting a comeback on the campaign trail? Bill Bradley, who writes the New West Notes blog for Pajamas Media, thinks so.With a lead in Nevada, a statistical tie in California, and a spirited performance at the first...
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May12
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Does the road to the White House wind through Google? Google thinks so. Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs, and Elliot Schrage, VP, Global Communications and Public Affairs, posted the following on Google's blog:Though the first votes...
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The Raleigh News & Observer an interesting look at the various presidential candidates' vehicle choices.Here's the car info on the declared Republican candidates. FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI: "I don't drive, I navigate." Not good. There's nothing more American...
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The Wall Street Journal and other major media have been reporting on what had been secret bipartisan negotiations between the White House and Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate on a immigration reform. The WSJ reports... Both sides have an...
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Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson said he has no interest in running on a Republican ticket as vice president. But on the issue of running for the No. 1 spot, Thompson remained coy. MSNBC reports. "I have no interest in running...
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Rudy Giuliani has decided to run for the Republican presidential nomination as a pro-choice candidate on the issue of abortion, betting his political ambition on whether other issues like taxes and terrorism will be enough to win him support from...
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May11
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The Associated Press checks in on the financial disclosures from the various Republican and Democratic candidates for president - though only one of the 18 paragraphs in the story discusses the Democratic candidates, perhaps because the AP wants to perpetuate...
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Alabama blogger Chris Brunner says the Alabama Department of Homeland Security thinks libertarians are terrorists, judging from the content on the department's "domestic terrorism" web page. If you review Brunner's blog post and the state of Alabama's web page on...
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May10
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The Wall Street Journal yesterday noted the record tax revenues being collected by the federal government thanks to the economic growth stimulated by President Bush's tax cuts. Here's the "surge" you aren't reading about: the continuing flood of tax revenue...
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May 9
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CNN is reporting that Ann Romney, the wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, donated $150 in 1994 to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. The disclosure comes as rival GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani is dealing with the impact...
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney received an accidental gift to his presidential campaign courtesy of that noted anti-bigotry crusader Al Sharpton, who, fresh off having successfully lead the charge against radio talker Don Imus, has now been caught making bigoted remarks...
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Leading Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has some more 'splaining to do to pro-life Republicans, this time about several donations he made during the 1990s to the nation's largest chain of abortion clinics. The former New York City mayor defended...
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Karl Kurtz at the National Conference of State Legislatures' blog The Thicket has a post on the Top 10 Reasons for Elected Officials to Blog, which links to a number of different articles and blog posts giving such advice. Kurtz...
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May 8
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Michael Barone's latest article at OpinionJournal.com has some eye-opening data on America's internal population shifts and urban demographics, and what it might mean for elections and distribution of seats in the House of Representatives......
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If the 2008 presidential election were judged by activity in the blogosphere, the race would currently be a dead heat between John McCain and Barack Obama, reports Chris Wilson at U.S. News' "News Desk" blog, citing data from Blogpulse.com, a...
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City Journal has a fascinating article about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his impact on the court, especially his believe in the "originalism" view of interpreting the Constitution and his rejection of the liberal view of the Constitution as...
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The Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee says the latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows former Sen. Fred Thompson’s "strength and appeal among Republican voters continuing to rise."This poll coincides with the announcement that the Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee has received...
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On the heels of yesterday's CNN/Opinion Research poll that showed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's plummeting support comes a new USA Today/Gallup poll today with much better numbers for Giuliani. USA Today/Gallup has him leading John McCain 34-20, with...
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May 7
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Nine months before the first primary, and the two front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination don't even have majority support among Republican likely voters if you added their support together. And the third alleged member of what the media portrays...
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Newt Gingrich thinks the crowded presidential field in both parties, combined with the rush of so many states to hold early primaries, could result in one or both parties facing a brokered convention - something that hasn't happened in decades.He...
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In his speech to the Lincoln Club of Orange County, California, Friday night, Fred Thompson mentioned a lengthy report on government waste due to mismanagement that he, as chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, authored in 2001 entitled Government...
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The Tennessean has published part two of its three-part profile of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, focusing on Thompson's years in the U.S. Senate and his experience in Washington D.C. While part one was written by a staffer...
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May 6
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The Des Moines Register gives some coverage to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and the issues of faith and evolution in the presidential campaign. Huckabee was one of only three candidates (out of 10) who during the Republican presidential debate...
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Syndicated conservative columnist Robert Novak calls Fred Thompson's speech to the Lincoln Club of Orange County, California, "a letdown for the packed audience of conservative Republicans." "It was not Reaganesque." "No red meat." "Too low key." That was the preponderant...
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The Christian Science Monitor says the reaction from members of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, California, to Fred Thompson's speech that that group, was "decidedly mixed." The article also asserts - based on comments from one Vanderbilt University political...
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The Washington Post profiles the politics of Fred Thompson, and asserts that, "the man some in the GOP are touting as a dream candidate has often sounded like the presidential hopeful many of them seem ready to dismiss: Sen. John McCain."...
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The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville has published part one of a three-part series of stories on Fred Thompson. Today's story profiles Thompson's years growing up in sleepy Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and Thompson's college and law school years and his entry into...
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May 5
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ABC Radio Networks has published the text of Fred Thompson's speech Saturday night to the Lincoln Club of Orange County, California. Also, there's video of the speech available now on YouTube. Links below.The Associated Press says Thompson spoke for about...
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CNN has announced that the video from two upcoming presidential debates it will broadcast in June from New Hampshire "will be made available without restrictions at the conclusion of each live debate," so that bloggers and others may use it.CNN...
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"The Google Interview could become the 21st-century equivalent of the candidate's pilgrimage to the General Motors plant," says the Associated Press, reporting on John McCain's appearance at Google the day after the first Republican presidential debate.For the candidates, the Google...
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Breitbart.tv interviews Fred Thompson, who comments on the first Republican presidential debate, whether or not he has "the fire in the belly" to run for president, and much, much more. When you watch the interview you see a man confident...
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May 4
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David Kuo, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, writes about last night's Republican presidential debate as if it was a horse race. Kuo, writing at BeliefNet, says the debate was "the first leg of the Religious Right...
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Even though Rudy Giuliani is losing ground among Republicans, the former mayor of New York is tied with Democrat Hillary Clinton at 45 percent in the race for the White House, according to the Rasmussen Poll:In the race for the...
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Hotline previews Fred Thompson's growing presidential campaign team:Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson, who attends his first official political event in Orange County, CA tonight, has authorized a cadre of top Republican operatives to prepare a presidential campaign on his behalf. Republicans said...
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Is the Left going to try to demonize Fred Thompson over a role he played on a television show? This story in the Los Angeles Times suggests the answer is yes (with the LAT leading the charge, of course).Ronald Reagan...
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Today's edition of The Daily Fred. starts with an Associated Press story out today that examines how Thompson is making good use of the Internet to build buzz for his likely presidential run.Thompson's online activity helps create a buzz about...
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MSNBC.com has the video of Thursday night's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library. Who won? I think that's in the eye of the beholder, and depends on how you defining winning. For my money, among the "Big Three" candidates -...
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May 3
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Advertising Age magazine looks at the possible impact of YouTube on the 2008 presidential election. They're also running a poll on the same topic.Not since the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960, when TV made its grand entrance into politics, has a...
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The Barack Obama campaign's underhanded seizure of a very popular MySpace page created by a pro-Obama volunteer has indeed hit the big media, including the AP wire, and Obama isn't looking very good. The Chicago Tribune reports on the incident,...
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In a presidential campaign cycle that started way too early, the advantges of being an undeclared-yet-plainly-interesting noncandidate are becoming more obvious every day. John Fund, writing at OpinionJournal.com, looks at the noncandidate candidates and "the art of not running for...
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Rudy Giuliani still leads the race for the GOP nomination but now enjoys support from only 30 percent of "likely voters," in the latest Rasmussen poll (PDF file). That's down seven points from seven weeks ago. But that's only half of...
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May 2
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The Washington Post previews Thursday night's Republican presidential debate in California, which will be televised nationally on MSNBC, and explains how California's role in the nominating process is completely different this year than in campaigns past.As 10 Republican presidential hopefuls...
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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took his presidential campaign to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Wednesday night. I'm writing this as I watch, and Romney and his campaign have got to be thrilled with his performance. Romney's coming across...
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New York Sun political writer Ryan Sager examines why the Republicans aren't doomed to lose the 2008 presidential race, despite President Bush's dismal poll numbers and the unpopular war in Iraq. The short answer, as provided by Pew's Andrew Kohut,...
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Rudy Giuliani’s political rivals are digging through the archives from his eight years as mayor of New York City, searching for political dirt, but those opposition-research teams may have a hard time finding anything, says the New York Daily News. More...
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Back when he was, briefly, running against Hillary Clinton for that New York senate seat, Rudy Giuliani derided "the Hollywood crowd" that backed Clinton. Now he's raking in the Hollywood cash for his presidential campaign.That's actually not surprising. In fact,...
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Ten Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in a nationally televised debate in Columbia, S.C., in mid-May. They are: U.S. senators John McCain of Arizona and Sam Brownback of Kansas; U.S. representatives Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul...
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Longtime Tennessee journalist and political commentator Frank Cagle profiles Fred Thompson for Knoxville's Metro Pulse weekly. Don't miss it. Here are a few parts of it:The myth has arisen that Thompson has never had a hard political race. At the...
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Fred Thompson tackles Hollywood mythumentarian Michael Moore in Thompson's latest commentary for ABC Radio. Moore is working on a new "documentary" asserting that Cuba has a better healthcare system than the U.S. In "The Myth of Cuban Health Care," Thompson...
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Jay Bush comments on some heavy-handed tactics by the Barack Obama campaign involving MySpace, the popular social-networking website.Barack Obama's presidential campaign convinced MySpace (owned by NewsCorp) to shut down an independent unofficial MySpace page in his honor, without the consent...
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A group of bloggers have launched a new petition drive titled We Win, They Lose, to encourage the Democratic-lead Congress to stop trying to force the surrender of America in Iraq. I've signed it, and hope you will too. Here's...
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Here's the video of Fred Thompson on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes show Monday night. And here's the transcript. The section where Thompson discusses Harry Reid and the war in Iraq is below:HANNITY: The biggest battle we have is this war...
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The invaluable blog Captain’s Quarters has a very important post on how the U.S. military is already feeling the consequences of the delayed funding due to the Democrats using the war in Iraq as a political tool to bash the...
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May 1
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Is the Rudy Giuliani campaign starting to lose momentum? Patrick Hynes, who works for John McCain's campaign, passes along a blog post at TownHall.com that mentions a new Cook Poll that shows Giuliani is leading McCain by 7 points. That's...
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Welcome to the May 1 edition of The Daily Fred. I'm going to be lazy about putting it together and turn it over to GrassRootsvoter.org, a pro-Fred Thompson website aiming gather thousands of grassroots volunteers for the Thompson unCampaign, which...
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The Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee is trying something rather innovative in to boost the non-official unCampaign of Fred Thompson - a call for Fred's supporters to create their own pro-Fred videos, which will be posted on YouTube and featured...
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I haven't mentioned it before but there's a web page dedicated to drafting Newt Gingrich to run for president. It's DraftNewt.org and includes a blog on the home page. Today's entry looks at a recent Evans and Novak email newsletter that looks...
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Oxford Analytica says Fred Thompson can't win the Republican nomination:The talk surrounding a Thompson candidacy is more a sign of Republican discontent with the current slate of candidates than genuine enthusiasm for what he could bring to the race. While...
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Mike Allen at The Politico reports on the unconventional presidential campaign that former Sen. Fred Thompson is planning.Thompson, his wife and advisers in Washington and Tennessee also are drawing up plans for a new style of campaign that would rely heavily...
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