Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wild About Fred
I started noticing the drumbeat for my former boss to step into the 2008 fray about 3 weeks ago. I had mentioned his name over the past few months (along with J.C. Watts) as dream candidates that I wished would enter the GOP fray as conservative options to the liberal Guiliani, McCain, and Romney. However, business started to pick up over the past three weeks.
I was receiving multiple e-mails/phone calls a day from around the nation asking if I had heard anything about Fred being interested in the White House. To each of them, I gave the same response:
His name is going to come up because he would win the nomination. Some of his former operatives have been conspicuously quiet since the start of the new year, which means that they could be busy sewing the seeds of candidacy. However, after spending some time with Fred in the fall, I just don't see him doing it.
My response has been the same for a while now. However, much like Neo in The Matrix, I'm starting to believe.
Maybe it's the dozens of daily posts by Michael Silence and A.C. Kleinheider on the subject. Maybe it's Gingrich's attempt to take an obvious general election issue away from the Dems so very early while talk of a real threat to his staked out position with conservatives begins to reach a critical mass. Maybe its the knowledge that the AP story about Wamp networking in the House for Fred is true.
Maybe it's the first time that I have been excited about the 2008 election cycle. After all, the reason that I haven't written much about 2008 thus far is that I had no horse in the race. As I have told anyone who has asked for the past year, there is no way that I could vote for or support the GOP nominee if his last name is Romney, Guiliani, or McCain. I would sooner vote for Ron Paul or Chuck Hagel running on a third party ticket than support a liberal Republican candidacy. (Pundits have asked where conservatives draw the line in their dance with a national Republican party that treats them like a slave class - well, here it is.)
Brownback's organization seems shaky right now (but that's a story for another day), and Huckabee has the pesky record of raising taxes in Arkansas (although he sure plays a mean guitar). Both also have fundraising questions. If the Corker/Bryant/Hillary race taught this grassroots activist (I guess I should embrace the term, since that is what I have been labeled as over the past year) anything, it's that money is a bigger factor in races than I ever admitted. Just the rumor that you may have trouble matching funds with someone like a Massachusetts millionaire or the chieftain of the Yankee mayors also tends to tighten wallets of fence-sitting potential donors, as well.
I freely admit it - I have sent a message through backchannels to my former boss encouraging his entry into this race. I want it for America. I want it for conservatives everywhere. I want it for myself, because I am much happier working for peanuts for a candidate that I believe in than immersing myself in my law practice.
Run, Fred. Please.
You left D.C. because the Senate was toxic, being one voice in the bickering body of 100. Meanwhile, there is only one Executive. Pardon the pun, but the President is a roll written with you in mind, one that you were born to play.
You have lived one of the most amazing lives - Vanderbilt Law, Watergate counsel, critically-acclaimed actor, United States Senator, husband and father. It just seems natural to me to add "44th United States President" to the list.
I certainly hope that I return from my vacation with news that Fred is forming an exploratory committee. Nothing could make me happier.
I was receiving multiple e-mails/phone calls a day from around the nation asking if I had heard anything about Fred being interested in the White House. To each of them, I gave the same response:
His name is going to come up because he would win the nomination. Some of his former operatives have been conspicuously quiet since the start of the new year, which means that they could be busy sewing the seeds of candidacy. However, after spending some time with Fred in the fall, I just don't see him doing it.
My response has been the same for a while now. However, much like Neo in The Matrix, I'm starting to believe.
Maybe it's the dozens of daily posts by Michael Silence and A.C. Kleinheider on the subject. Maybe it's Gingrich's attempt to take an obvious general election issue away from the Dems so very early while talk of a real threat to his staked out position with conservatives begins to reach a critical mass. Maybe its the knowledge that the AP story about Wamp networking in the House for Fred is true.
Maybe it's the first time that I have been excited about the 2008 election cycle. After all, the reason that I haven't written much about 2008 thus far is that I had no horse in the race. As I have told anyone who has asked for the past year, there is no way that I could vote for or support the GOP nominee if his last name is Romney, Guiliani, or McCain. I would sooner vote for Ron Paul or Chuck Hagel running on a third party ticket than support a liberal Republican candidacy. (Pundits have asked where conservatives draw the line in their dance with a national Republican party that treats them like a slave class - well, here it is.)
Brownback's organization seems shaky right now (but that's a story for another day), and Huckabee has the pesky record of raising taxes in Arkansas (although he sure plays a mean guitar). Both also have fundraising questions. If the Corker/Bryant/Hillary race taught this grassroots activist (I guess I should embrace the term, since that is what I have been labeled as over the past year) anything, it's that money is a bigger factor in races than I ever admitted. Just the rumor that you may have trouble matching funds with someone like a Massachusetts millionaire or the chieftain of the Yankee mayors also tends to tighten wallets of fence-sitting potential donors, as well.
I freely admit it - I have sent a message through backchannels to my former boss encouraging his entry into this race. I want it for America. I want it for conservatives everywhere. I want it for myself, because I am much happier working for peanuts for a candidate that I believe in than immersing myself in my law practice.
Run, Fred. Please.
You left D.C. because the Senate was toxic, being one voice in the bickering body of 100. Meanwhile, there is only one Executive. Pardon the pun, but the President is a roll written with you in mind, one that you were born to play.
You have lived one of the most amazing lives - Vanderbilt Law, Watergate counsel, critically-acclaimed actor, United States Senator, husband and father. It just seems natural to me to add "44th United States President" to the list.
I certainly hope that I return from my vacation with news that Fred is forming an exploratory committee. Nothing could make me happier.
Labels: 2008 GOP Presidential Primary, Fred Thompson
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 12:44 AM 
