Fredmania, Fredmentum, Whatever You Wanna Call It
The momentum of Fred Thompson has started, and critics may soon be eating their words and predictions. MKH runs down the roll Fred is on. First there was the anti-hand raising performance at the Des Moines Register debate. He stayed on a roll with his “apology” to Huckabee. Then he got a huge endorsement from king-maker, Iowa Rep. Steve King. That should move some numbers in Iowa.
Here is a vid of Rep. Steve King telling us why he is a Fred head. Listen Iowa.
MKH also points out how Fred hopes to take evangelicals away from Huckabee.
Thompson firmly believes he can play well with Evangelicals, sapping votes from their current favorite, Huckabee. He has been on the attack — trying to show holes in Huckabee’s record both in press interviews and in a mailing that went out last week that accuses Huckabee of being weak on immigration.
“We’ve talked about immigration, we’ve talked about his record on taxes, we’ve talked about him wanting to lift the embargo against Castro and things like that and some of the stuff he switches his position on and some of the stuff he stays with,” Thompson said.
He also had some pointed criticism of Romney. His campaign has labeled Romney a flip-flopper on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. When asked if the negativity could turn off Iowa voters, Thompson replied: “If you’re supposed to go to the presidential elections without talking about the issues and where people’s positions on issues that would be news to me.”
He is also has been showing quite a sense of humor, something I think is important with many.
Des Moines Register: Don’t Rule Out a Surge by Edwards, Thompson.
But after a sluggish start, Thompson has sensed an opening in Iowa, and he’s moving decisively to exploit it. The opening arises from a combination of Romney’s changes of position on social issues and Huckabee’s stumbles on foreign-policy questions and immigration.
After his winning performance in the Des Moines Register’s debate, Thompson has embarked on a lengthy bus tour of the state. During these final days, his campaign says he’ll hold events in 50 communities and will visit 54 of the 99 counties.
On Monday, he picked up the surprise endorsement of Congressman Steve King. Of all the endorsements flying around these days, that one could move the most numbers. It sends a powerful signal from one of Iowa’s most conservative leaders to others on the right around the state: We’ve now got a horse we can ride.
While it’s the consensus, I don’t think at all that Fred’s start was all that sluggish and in fact it seems far more calculated than anything else. The Iowa debate showed that.
Let me put it this way. Bank tellers will tell you that when they spot counterfeit money it’s not from studying the fake, but when they have become so used to viewing the real thing that when they see instantly spot it.
That may yet happen with the conservative base and Fred.
Captain Ed on the Fred Phenomenon:
A Fred surge will force some recalculation, none of it pleasant for any of the candidates. If Fred can manage a late surge that pushes him into first or second in Iowa, he could gain some significant traction for South Carolina especially. If he pushes Mitt Romney into a third-place finish in Iowa, that would seriously damage Mitt’s momentum and could provide an opening for John McCain in New Hampshire. That helps Rudy in Florida, but only if Huckabee doesn’t take up the slack.
Fred could help unite the diverse conservative base, but so far, we haven’t seen much of a campaign from Thompson. We haven’t seen it in Iowa either, for that matter, although Yepsen has some well-tuned instincts there. A late Fred surge would probably show more a significant amount of residual discontent with the entire top tier more than an endorsement of Fred himself.
And another impressive endorsement.…and another. One last Thompson thing….make sure to see this video that should be a campaign video. He’s definitely got people talking again. Will it be enough?
Heh…Fred challenges the Paulians.
Ace rounds up more Fredmentum.
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Posted by Jay on December 18, 2007 6:50 pm
» Filed Under News, Politics As Usual, Video
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3 Responses to “Fredmania, Fredmentum, Whatever You Wanna Call It”
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I’m calling it Fredthusiasm. Heh.
Fred is stuck in the polls and on Intrade, so I dont see any momentum. Hell he is polling worse than two months ago. Voting not to impeach Clinton and his strong support of McCain Feingold turns people off. He talks a good game yet his record does not match his rhetoric. McCain Feingold then….Federalism now?
There are two good solid conservatives running-Keyes and Hunter. That is where the support should be.
Well, too much Fred can’t be that bad, right?