Report: Fred! may pick up McCain’s leftovers
Remember all those John McCain ‘08 staffers let go by the dying campaign? Looks like they may get new life–recycled as Fred Thompson ‘08 staffers. Um, am I the only one who thinks this would be a bad move for Fred? The New York Sun reports:
The downsizing of Senator McCain’s presidential campaign is coming at an opportune time for Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who is likely to jump into the race officially any day now and seeking to build a campaign staff in the early primary states.
Struggling with a shortage of cash, Mr. McCain’s campaign announced last week that it was laying off dozens of staff members, including about half of his paid team in Iowa and New Hampshire.
While there is no evidence of an outright pillaging of Mr. McCain’s departed aides, Republican sources in those states say Mr. Thompson’s emerging campaign is the likeliest landing spot. Aside from Mr. Thompson’s obvious need for staff — assuming he enters the race — the two are closely aligned ideologically, and Mr. Thompson even endorsed Mr. McCain when he sought the White House in 2000.
Er, not exactly something the Thompson campaign should remind grass-roots conservatives of too often.
Meanwhile, even Thompson’s top boosters are getting impatient with Thompson’s political game of footsie:
Mr. Thompson does not have paid staff in New Hampshire yet, but his top boosters there include a former state representative, Daniel Hughes, and a longtime political consultant, William Cahill. They are just waiting for the signal, Mr. Hughes said yesterday.
“I wish we had a green light to go and organize and do our thing,” he said. Mr. Hughes organized Mr. Thompson’s first appearance as a potential candidate in the state late last month, at a fund-raiser for Republicans in the state Senate…
…Exactly when Mr. Thompson will officially join the fray remains unclear, but his supporters are at the ready. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a call tomorrow,” Mr. Hughes said.
Political strategists say he has played the waiting game well, allowing the support and speculation to build and watching as he has jumped to the top of some polls without even entering the race.
Mr. Thompson’s unofficial status also holds off the increased press scrutiny that comes with being a candidate, but that may not last much longer. Articles have begun to crop up scrutinizing his past as a Washington lobbyist and his record on abortion, a key social issue.
And his backers may get antsy if he waits much longer. As Mr. Hughes put it: “People like me are going to say, ‘Fish or cut bait. It’s time to go.’”
Chop-chop!
***
Here’s FT’s latest blog post on his visit with Young Republicans in Florida.
And this is getting e-mailed around–a new pro-Fred spot endorsing “A Different Kind of Candidate:”
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Outside The Beltway | OTB
- Right Wing Rebel » Blog Archive » A little less talk...
- Thompson Could Scoop Up Fired McCain Aides
- Fred Thompson Playing The Reagan Card With Conservatives | Political Vindication
- UniversalUpdate.com
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Fred set to pick up McCain’s castoffs?
- Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian Report: Fred! may pick up McCain’s leftovers «
- Bill's Bites
- Pajamas Media
- Keith Burgess-Jackson » All Fred, All the Time
- Michelle Malkin » McCain ‘08 Death Watch: Top staffers out
- Bluey Blog | Robert B. Bluey » Fred Thompson Doesn’t Need McCain’s Castoffs
- newrepublicans.us » Dumpster diving with Fred...
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The NY Sun article is highly speculative, so concern at this point is unwarranted.
As for Fred! officially throwing his hat in the ring now, why? From a marketing prospective, he is getting a high recognition return as the “almost a candidate”.
I hope he holds out until after Labor Day, when summer vacationers return to serious business and start looking at the candidate line-up in earnest.
Meanwhile, he will conserve his funds, will make timely speeches, and will write common sense policy articles.
He is showing why big money does not have to be spent in order to run for president.
FRED! is the man.
Fred Thompson’s hesitancy to announce his intentions causes grave concern … does he want to be a candidate or not? Picking up McCain’s “leftovers” doesn’t sound like a good idea either. He should not associate himself with a failing campaign in any way.
I would heartly endorse a Thompson/Romney ticket. I’m not sure which I would prefer as President.
I agree with USMCGramma. Steer clear of McCain’s former crew and get a move on already! RUN, Fred RUN!!
Bottom line:
The Republican Party doesn’t have a charismatic, trustworthy, solid conservative candidate who can save it from continuing falling apart in the toilet.
Don’t cheer, lefties. As if you Communists have something to offer!
The Republican Party needs a candidate who says it as it is:
No political correctness, no “crossing party lines” (it didn’t work and never will), no pandering, no mincing words, no flip-flopping, strong conservative on national security and on social issues, articulate, smart and unwavering.
Find me that candidate and I’ll vote for him.
Fred is doing fine with what he has going. We do not need to feel bad for McCains staffers. They backed the wrong man and if McCain is anything like the ‘left’ that he has been supporting lately we do not want his staffers. There may be a few angry ones…..remember Marcotte?
I’m not worried. I just hope he picks Michael Steele for VP. That ticket would have a great shot at taking down a Clinton/Obama ticket.
The latest rumor is that he’s getting in next week. That’s a good insertion point I think. If there was anything to the rumor a few weeks ago of a September entry, then forget it, I’m out. As Noonan said, it’s mildly obnoxious to keep delaying…
Yes, bad idea. LOSERS run LOSING campaigns (like John McCains). Fred should try finding some WINNERS so that maybe he could WIN. Interesting concept, but apparently hard to grasp.
It seems to me that he is just picking up low level staffers. He’s grabbing the kind of people that answer the phone and essentially do what they are told. I don’t think it is a problem picking up these people.
The people he needs to stay away from are the decision makers and campaign leads, they are running the losing campaign.
It’s my opinion that Thompson should run with Huckabee. I’ve seen a few interviews, granted I haven’t read everything, and like what he dishing.
Ditto. Do not hire losers. there is a reason these people are out of a job, they couldn’t get their candidate to the forefront.
As for announcing, I’m with the S** or get of the pot crowd.
Fred! You need to step it up! Your getten behind the money curve.
“Fish or cut bait”.
Now there’s a Southern expression completely apropos for Fred.
The only one to blame for the dying McCain campaign is McCain. Bottom line he is too weak to hold that office.So what happens , God forbid, Fred has a relapse or his illness worsens and he needs treatment while in office. Our next President is going to have to be a very strong man. I know that any one of us could die at any given moment but we are talking about the leader of our country. I just think all things have to be considered .
Fred associating himself in any way to John would be a mistake. Even if it’s only staffers . It does not seem to be a wise decision.
Jose:
Fred will catch up very quickly in the money department – at least in the cash on hand category which is generally considered the most important.
His fundraisers are beating the Bushes as we speak. He’s very well connected in this department having spent a few years in the DC lobbying world. Wouldn’t suprise me at all if he ended up passing everyone except Rudy and Mitt by next month.
Dale:
The people he’s hiring are pros. They’ve been on many winning and losing campaigns. Most pros agree that it is the candidate who usually makes or breaks a campaign, that staffers (save the upper tier of advisors and consultants – people Fred already has in place) simply grease the wheels and keep things running smoothly.
One exception to that is the scheduler. Campaigns are run with a kind of ruthless military efficiency as far as time is concerned. And a good scheduler can make a candidates life so much easier simply by getting the campaign from point A to point B in good time. While events are decided upon by upper level advance people and coordinators, nothing moves unless the schedulers do their jobs.
Look at Obama. He’s had horrid scheduling. There have been times when the guy looks exhausted and this is when he’s put his foot in it. It seems to have gotten better lately (he was probably relying on his Senate scheduler at first). But a good scheduler can make the difference between winning and losing.
Fred! does need to make the announcement if he’s gonna do this. I’m getting tired of waiting too.
Oh, yeah, I agree with Michelle, McCain is TOXIC politically speaking, so he may want to downplay that as much as possible.
I’ll bet that as soon as Thompson announces, he’ll have no shortage of staffers. People will come out of the woodwork to help with his campaign…I know I will.
Bye bye McCain, thanks for your service….hellow Fred Thompson. He seems to be a good conservative, his Senate voting record is pretty conservative, he says the right things…at this point, I’d welcome him into the race. Personally, I could see him beating Hillary and Obama…
I am also looking forward to Thompson getting in ‘officially’ so the base can FINALLY regroup and get energized. Long overdue, as libs in media and congress are feeling some of their oats…and that’s gotta stop.
(With apologies to Michelle) Anyone who thinks Fred needs to announce now clearly doesn’t understand what they are watching happen.
If you cannot follow the brilliant logic of Fred’s campaign and don’t understand what it is that is happening right in front of your eyes, than quite honestly you are not anyone who Fred should even remotely consider taking advice from.
The people who are really being bothered by Fred’s not announcing are those who have instant gratification issues. Sorry folks, Fred is running for POTUS not making microwave popcorn.
Fred is in the process of completely changing the electoral process. If you don’t understand what I am talking about you need to go back and read the congressional speech he gave where he explained why he supported the McCain-Feingold amendment.
The failure of the McCain-Feingold amendment to do what it promised and what Fred believed it would clearly disappointed Fred a great deal. What he is doing here is I believe one of those things that Fred said “You need to be President of the United States to do”.
This thing is campaign finance reform. I believe that the lesson Fred took away from McCain-Feingold was that as long as big money is involved you are never going to those on the receiving end of that money to agree to campaign finance reform that actually reforms campaign financing.
By not announcing and running his campaign as a net-centric campaign Fred is making the big money involved in campaigning irrelevant, thus forcing a unique from of campaign finance reform. He is literally making it possible to campaign without big money thus changing the rules.
By these new rules if you want to compete, and everyone who wants to get elected to any office has to compete, you have to do things differently.
Big money and liberal elitist media have corrupted our electoral process by manipulating the information the electorate has access to.
The internet has already changed that, the problem is that most people do not understand this, and the majority of those who do, simply do not understand just how profoundly it has.
The longer Fred remains unannounced the more profoundly he destroys the impact of big money and the liberal elitist media’s impact on the electoral process.
The most profound impact of Fred’s campaign is being felt right here right now. Fred is perhaps the first candidate in American history to have a truly two way dialog with the American people.
That dialog is taking place in the blogsphere, Fred is talking to “We the People” and we are talking back to him the “Candidate” and all indications are that he IS listening to what we are saying.
OK so he may not be responding to those calling for him to announce right now, but that is because he understands his own strategy. A strategy I might point out that has allowed him to not spend a single dime campaigning yet has placed him in the GOP frontrunner status tied with the Democratic frontrunner.
Lyndon Johnston once said of one of his political opponents, “I don’t give a damn if he beats his wife, I just want to hear the SOB deny it in public”. Fred wryly has chosen to remain silent when the Clinton machine has attempted to employee that Johnston tactic against him.
Just as he has very wisely chosen not to announce when others think he should have. Sun Tzu said “If you have to fight a battle, dont allow your opponent to choose the time or place of the battle”.
At this juncture Fred obviously is following that very wise strategy, Fred is the one choosing the time and place of the battle.
Those calling for him to announce now are falling into the trap of allowing Hillary to choose the time and place of the battle. Personally I prefer to not have Hillary choose the time and place, I would rather Fred do the choosing.
Hey, a ship is only as good as its’ Captain. You can have the best crew in the world and it can’t stop a foolish Captain from running the ship aground. Good seasoned talent is hard to find. Besides, I have always learned more from mistakes than from successes
I am mildly entertained by those who say “if Fred! doesn’t get in now, I won’t vote for him (or forgetaboutit).
Is that to suggest that Fred! needs to do things their way and not his? What good is any candidate or prospective candidate if they can’t use their own discretion about when they make a “formal” announcement?
And, when it gets right down to it, I suspect that when it ultimately gets down to Billary versus the Republican candidate, you (like I) will not vote for Billary–true?
Is Fred Thompson taking a page from Steve Jobs at Apple?
His marketing angle of building suspense is akin to the recent iPhone mystery/hype/frenzy/speculation.
I propose a new name for Mr. Thompson: iFred.
It’s not the staffers’ fault the McCain campaign is cratering, it’s McCain’s, and there’s no harm in Fred agreeing with McCain on some things but not others. I wish he’d go ahead and announce soon too but a also think he’s smart enough to know what he’s doing even if he doesn’t want to explain his strategy to us, and the competition, right now.
I’m sorry – I suppose there’s no reason to spoil a day for Fred! fans, but all this “watch me wait – aren’t I special” business is really starting to get on my nerves.
The problem is that the longer he waits, the less tested he is when the time comes to get the nomination. That’s bad. That’s bad for him and that’s bad for us. This is about more than money and teams and the like – we need to know if he’s going to be any good, and he’s being coy about that; a few interviews aren’t enough. Everyone, I think, is engaging in wishful thinking that when put toe-to-toe with the opposition, he’ll wipe the floor with them just because he wipes the floor with them when they’re not there. Personally, I can’t support him for the nomination anymore. The same with Newt – I think he’d be the best president since Reagan hands -down, and while he might or might not overcome the unfair image the media made of him in the press, this “wait and see” business is likewise grating. There may be a method to the madness, but at least in Newt’s case we’ve seen him square off countless times. Not so Fred. Where are his values really? How is he without a script? We’ll have maybe seven months to find out, and since it won’t be a daily performance for us to judge, that isn’t enough time.
As much as I really really dislike his squishy abortion platform, Rudy is the only real contender with the fire in the belly, and he has 100 times the proven leadership of Thompson to make it more than just a solid appearance. There are similarities between Reagan and Thompson, of course, but they split on the issue of leadership: Reagan was a hugely successful Governor of the largest state in the country. Thompson’s record is virtually non-existant. Remember, Hillary has done nothing either, but with a complicit press, she can look more experienced than Fred because she was at least in the White House, not doing things Bill and the press will say she did – and that’s an absolute disaster for Thompson about which no one seems to want to pay attention, and assuming she’s the de facto nominee, that kind of diaster puts Hillary in the White House. For real. Think about it. Add that to this “look-at-me-I’m-waiting” and I just don’t see anything like a President in Thompson because of it. And if I’m not alone in feeling that way by big enough numbers, then we’ll have the Hillary-Monster raising our kids in a village.
Run Rudy run – the proven prosecutor, break-the mafia’s back, turn a slum into a technological Oz, give’em hell for breaking the law wartime mayor of New York City. When it comes to political leadership, it really is hard record to beat, and with the press behind her, that’s what we need to beat Hillary.