Rick Moran [1] over at Pajamas Media discussing what went wrong with Fred Thompson’s campaign, as if it’s a post mortem. it’s a worthy read, which I commend to you.
Personally I am not quite so convinced that the whole situation is a flop. As Rick himself points out, Fred Thompson has always been a strong finisher. And, one doesn’t have to look very closely to see that there is no real advantage to coming out swinging, just now. What with primaries edging ever earlier (New Hampshire , just this evening announced that it will be running its primary on January 3rd, of all things…) if actually there he is going to be some serious blow back from the voting public in the form of voter apathy. You can only be pounded with this stuff for so long.
I’m thinking that Thompson is probably get as good a chance as any of them, if he plays the “I’m a fresh face on the scene” routine. answer to the lake, the remainder of the Republican field as been doing its level best to shoot itself in the foot. Perhaps that too, was part of the strategy.
Now, I’m not going to tell you that he’s going to rewrite from behind everybody at the last minute and take the nomination. Candidly, I hope he does. I’m not holding my breath, however.
That said, it must also be said that we have just under a year between us and election day. Also, the convention isn’t until September 1st through the 4th, I believe, up in the Twins. I’ve seen enough of these things to know that there’s an awful lot in the way of surprises that can occur between now and then, and I guarantee you that this one is going to be no different. Given his track record, I would not be the least bit surprised if Fred Thompson was one of them.