-By Warner Todd Huston
Getting Edgy Waiting for Thompson?
I know what you’re thinking; “WHY can’t he just announce and get it over with?”
There have been a few scattered reports that Thompson supporters are getting tired of waiting, getting edgy over it all, or otherwise are wondering what the hold up might be? I think there are some excellent reasons why waiting doesn’t materially hurt Thompson, the impatience of some of his supporters aside.
First of all we have the polls that are consistently in the candidate-to-be’s favor. Here is just the latest report:
ROCHESTER, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In the Republican nomination race, former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, while still not a declared candidate, has edged marginally ahead of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Three in ten (29%) of those who expect to vote in a Republican primary or caucus would vote for Thompson while 28 percent would vote for Giuliani (and a one percent difference is not statistically significant).
Without spending a penny, without having to involve himself in pointless debates and peeing contests with other candidates, Thompson is consistently either leading the field, or close behind the leader of the polls.
For candidates that have to work extremely hard for their positions in the polls, they feel early starts are a must. But for the leader (or next to that), why waste all the funds and time “running” when you don’t have to?
Think about this next part in the aforementioned report:
Looking at the next tier of candidates on the Republican side, Senator John McCain leads the group with 17 percent saying they would vote for him followed by Mitt Romney (9%) and Newt Gingrich (6%).
With the many millions that Mitt Romney has already spent on this campaign one cannot help but realize that it has practically done nothing for his standing because in nationwide polls he continues to wallow at less than 20%, and he rarely rises above third or fourth place in the ranks. Also look at the campaigning that McCain has done and notice how little good it has done him.
Now think of the fact that Thompson has done little else but make an occasional speech, careful not to get too far into policy, and raised money while spending little of it. Yet, he constantly out polls his rivals who are knocking themselves out campaigning and spending.
So, consider this… why should Thompson follow their lead and join them on the campaign trail if he can be a winner with such little effort?
Now, we also have to consider another aspect of Thompson’s efforts thus far. And let’s be straight, here, it is his campaign and he can run it how he likes! If we are supporters of his, shouldn’t we at least trust that he has the good sense to run his campaign the way it is best to be run? I, for one, am perfectly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he and his team have a strategy. It appears to be a good one thus far, too, because he is up in all the polls.
Remember this, his is a rather new campaign, so Thompson’s bank is not as full as that of his rivals who have been collecting contributions for well over a year already not to mention that our man is still in the midst of assembling his national machine — not something that can be done overnight. Thompson’s strategy has to be one of early conservation of funds and careful organization in the mean time… Again, the polls say he is doing fine.
So, if we are to trust that our man is the right man, we also have to trust that his strategy is an efficacious one.
So, I say, let us trust our man.
(By the way, here is the perfect place to pass the hat… donate to the Thompson campaign by going to his website: Imwithfred.com)
But there is a more important point to my mind. Our presidential campaigns are getting ridiculously long. Candidates are declaring earlier and earlier and this results in even more money than ever being necessary to run for president. This fact alone eliminates millions of qualified candidates because raising millions of dollars to run for office is hard enough, but we are fast getting to the point where billions will have to raised to run for the White House. This is a travesty for the American people who will find that only the obscenely wealthy can afford to run for office. Is that what we want, only the uber rich running for president?
Think of it this way: do we want Paris Hilton to be one of the few people who can afford to run for president?
So, on principle, if Thompson gets in later than the others (and he also finds that getting in late doesn’t hurt him), I say it is good that he is refocusing the campaign on the months closer to, instead of the years previous to, the Primaries. I say he is doing the country a service.
If we are lucky, Thompson will prove that running three years before the first Primary is not the best strategy and we can get back to a shorter campaign season.
In summation, if we are going to claim to be Thompson supporters, then we have to trust our candidate, sit tight, and wait for him to carry out his strategy.
After all, there is plenty of time before the first Primaries yet.
(By the way, I feel it incumbent upon myself to inform the reader that I am not an official Thompson employee or campaign worker. I have taken no money and accepted no position from the Thompson campaign at this time. I am just an average citizen supporting Thompson, patiently, expectantly, and determined to see him through.)
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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