Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

You may have read stories in the printed press or online about how Fred Thompson's campaign is off to a lackluster start. You might even have believed those stories. Shame on you - trusting the media to tell the truth about a Republican!

I'll let Mickey Kaus handle it from here:

Thompson's Troubled Start: Fred Thompson's campaign had such a terrible, fumbling, disappointing first week that he's already tied with Giuliani in the ARG poll and ahead by eight points in the Rasmussen poll.

Truth is, there are now two front-runners in the race. One is Rudy Giuliani, who has never gotten above about one third in any nationa poll, and who is out of step with the majority of the Republican electorate on some key issues, like abortion. The other is Fred Thompson, who has already caught Rudy, and who is far more in step with the Republican electorate than is Rudy.

Here's my report, republished here from BillHobbs.com, on Fred's Saturday night "Homecoming" in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, where he grew up. More than 10,000 people packed the town square. That's quite a feat in a small town, population 11,000, located way off the beaten track in rural Tennessee, in a Democrat-leaning county.

Huge Rally Greets Fred in Lawrenceburg

Lawrenceburg, TN - Driving from Nashville to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, feels at times like driving backward in time as you leave behind the 21st century modernity of the state capital and find yourself in a town that in many ways looks unchanged in the last half century. But Saturday afternoon there was a distinct sense of the now and the future, too, as Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, who grew up in Lawrenceburg, returned for a huge campaign rally that packed the town square with an enthusiastic crowd estimated at above 10,000 people.

After his speech, Fred signed autographs for folks jammed up along the barrier between seating and stage, then stepped through the barrier and waded into the crowd where he was mobbed like a rock star (though I hope we never see him try to crowd-surf!), where he continued to sign autographs, greet people and pose for a long time.

I was supposed to interview Thompson during the short drive from the Lawrenceburg airport to his hotel before the rally, but while I arrived early, Thompson's plane arrived even earlier and I missed him. So, in lieu of an interview report, I've got photos.

See the whole set at Flickr. Also, Blake Wylie was there and also has a selection of photos up on his Flickr page.

Update The Fred Thompson campaign has its own Flickr page, with 64 photos from the Lawrenceburg rally.

Update: Here's a story on the Rasmussen poll. The writer thinks Mitt Romney is still among the front-runners, even though he's trailing badly in the national polls, because of his strategy to win in Iowa and New Hampshire and get a "bounce" into the primaries beyond.