California Conservative

The Bloggers News Network must be reading this blog because they’ve written a post saying that Fred’s gaining campaign cash, major endorsements & bigger crowds. That sounds alot like these posts I wrote on those subjects. Here’s some highlights from Fred’s recent surge:

• The Thompson campaign another endorsement by a Pro-Life Group. This time it was the Rhode Island Right to Life lining up behind the former Senator from Tennessee.
• Fund-raising was encouraging and over $300,000 was reported raised in the 24 hours following the Debates in South Carolina.
• Fifty-six percent of all online donors since Thursday night are first-time contributors.
• We have had 14,296 contributions since the Iowa Caucus with an average contribution of $98.
• To date the campaign has more than 166,000 total donors and 283,000 people have signed up online as “Friends of Fred.”
• More than 200 volunteers from all over the country have descended on South Carolina to help get out the vote.
• On the heels of Thursday’s debate, Fred was endorsed by Human Events, the influential conservative publication. In addition, his debate performance has been praised by Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett and virtually every conservative blog and pundit.

Compare that with what the LA Times wrote on their blog:

Quietly, deep within an e-mail to supporters from Fred Thompson’s campaign manager touting the former senator’s South Carolina game plan, William Lacy describes the long days the candidate is putting in on the Palmetto State’s campaign trail. He said they needed more advertising to give Thompson the best chance to do well in the upcoming Republican primary there.

Then there’s one line we almost overlooked where Lacy makes a possibly revealing admission about the Tennessean’s campaign financial condition with ramifications for his political finish.

“Right now,” he says, “my budget is a little short of where it needs to be to get that done.”

He adds, “Even a donation of $10, $20 or $25 would help Fred get where he needs to be.” Thompson is not alone in being cash-strapped. As we wrote Friday, Rudy Giuliani’s campaign is not paying top staffers this month, among other cutbacks to maximize funds for their firewall efforts in Florida.

Candidates do not need to report their 2007 fourth-quarter fundraising figures to the Federal Election Commission until the end of this month. But this short Lacy message looking for what is, in effect, small change would not seem to portend well for the Fred Thompson camp’s literal fortunes.

To say that the LA Times is parsing words as though they were translating a Hillary speech is understatement. Fred says what he means and he means what he says. That’s why parsing isn’t necessary.

I just found another good read on Fred, this time more from a policy standpoint. JB Williams’ observations are spot on:

He is the one Republican candidate not talking about Ronald Reagan, but rather his own beliefs, policy positions and core values. He is the one candidate who was drafted by American conservatives, to represent the principles that have not been represented in Washington since Reagan.

He is the one candidate who did not blow his campaign war chest trying to win in Iowa, New Hampshire or Michigan, where only candidates willing to pander to leftist voters can win primaries or caucuses. He is the one candidate who understood from the beginning that NO conservative president has ever been chosen by Iowa, New Hampshire or Michigan, but instead, by South Carolina and beyond.

Fred Thompson has received the endorsements of the National Right to Life groups across the country because he has a perfect 100% pro-life record as a former Senator and as a man. He has spent a lifetime as a supporter of both First and Second Amendment rights. He has spent a lifetime investigating and prosecuting government corruption and working to reduce the size and scope of the federal government as a true federalist in the tradition of our founding fathers, not just Reagan.

I’ve told people that Fred’s collected more endorsements from pro life groups than all the other GOP candidates combined. Fred’s also got a great record on Second Amendment rights. I wish I could say that about the First Amendment but I can’t say that with a straight face because he voted for BCRA. To be fair, though, Fred’s support for BCRA was because he wanted to deal with the plague of soft money, which didn’t require accountability. He’s since renounced his vote for BCRA.

What this all means in terms of votes is yet to be determined but I’m confident that Fred will do well in South Carolina, forcing the elitist media to pay attention to him. With that recognition will come better fundraising efforts, meaning he’ll be more competitive on Super Tuesday.

That isn’t a guarantee of Fred winning the nomination but at least someone’s noticing.

Technorati Tags: Media, Fred Thompson, Bloggers, South Carolina Ronald Reagan, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Blogging, Debates, Election 2008, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.