Do you feel Fred Thompson has hurt himself any by waiting so late to announce his candidacy for President?

Question

Fox News

Answer 1

Here's an answer to a question someone else asked about Fred Thompson's candidacy:

First of all, as someone pointed out, as long as he is not an "official" candidate, his movies and TV shows can run for as long as he can persuade his friends in Hollywood to keep running them. Once he declares, BY LAW, they have to come off the programming schedules. Ronald Reagan had to do it when running, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger had to do it during his campaign for governor.

Second, as long as Fred Thompson stays "out" of the race, he doesn't have to report specific fundraising totals or various other reports to the Federal Election Commission. Some say that his actions are, in fact, illegal, since his campaign is de facto at this point but he does not have to follow the same rules as the other candidates. Exploratory, or "testing the waters", committees are not intended to be long-term institutions. It is expected that after a certain amount of time the candidate will either declare his or her candidacy or dissolve the committee. Fred Thompson has the longest-running exploratory committee in federal election history.

He may even suffer by it. With all the states pushing their primary dates forward, a full-fledged election campaign can flounder by waiting too long to declare. Bill Clinton may not have officially entered the race until October of the previous year, but in the 1992 election the primary schedule was much less packed than it is now. New Hampshire, which by state law is required to hold its primary before any other state, is holding meetings to determine whether they should start voting in December of this year. That's less than four whole months away, and guess who's the clear front-runner in New Hampshire? (Here's a hint: it's not Fred Thompson.)

I couldn't be more annoyed that he's waited this long to declare. His campaign was scheduled to make the announcement on the Fourth of July. Now here we are, almost two months later, and they're still gun-shy. That's what it is, folks; Fred Thompson's well-earned reputation in the Senate for not having what it takes. He failed completely to distinguish himself while in public office. He couldn't keep up with the same "rigorous" lifestyle that his fellow senators (including the antiquated John McCain) had lived for many years. Does he expect the presidency to be any less "routine" or "boring" than the Senate was? I suppose he's right, if getting blamed for everything can be described as "challenging."

Answer 2

Yes and no. If he had announced 2 months ago, he would have been right up there at the top of the polls. On the other hand, he's very smart in waiting until the end of this week. There's going to be an Republican debate in the middle of the week, and it will just be a bunch of noise because there are far too many candidates. He's going to announce the following day, which means two things ... (1) There will be many questions about him to the other candidates during the debate, so he'll get publicity without even showing up, and (2) He will have the stage all to himself the next day.

Answer 3

I think he has hurt himself because he has given other candidates a chance to solidify their positions.

Mitt Romney has gone from being a long shot to the likely nominee by spending money on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire over the past six months.

Mike Huckabee by finishing second in the Iowa Straw Poll now has a chance to become the main candidate of the social conservatives.

Giuliani has fortified his position as the candidate of the moderate-liberal wing of the party.

While candidates may have started later in 1992 and 1996, changes to election dates have moved up the calendar. Over half of the states will have voted by February 14th. That means there are just about twenty-three weeks left in the race. The equivalent date in previous years would have been late October and most candidates have been running by July in previous cycles.

We will see when the third quarter FEC numbers are posted in October, but I think Senator Thompson is going to find himself in sixth place on the cash on hand list and is going to have to spend too much time raising money and not enough time in Iowa and New Hampshire in the fourth quarter.

Answer 4

It depends on what you mean by hurting himself. His tactics are very "slick" so I could see it helping him because he has basically ran a campaign without having to follow campaign laws. He has amassed a decent amount of money that hasnt had to be accounted for and he will avoid having to debate in NH on Sept 5 with the rest of the GOP. Now, TNT says they will not pull Law and Order episodes with Fred in them which is a total violation of the spirit of the Equal Air Time law. So no he hasnt hurt himself.

On the other hand, he has also avoided giving any meaningful info on his views and his direction for the country if elected. He seems to have picked up a mix of Ron Paul and GWB lately, which I find disturbing and a method of cherry-picking his views. He says he respects the Constitution yet wants to continue invading countries without Congressional approval! Nice double talk Fred. He says he is in favor of 2nd Amendment protections yet has voted for stricter gun control repeatedly (check his Senate voting record). He likes to act (haha) like he's not a DC insider yet he lobbied Congress for decades for anyone who would pay him. He lobbied for a pro-choice group and for the Haitian president among many others. How very Republican of you, Fred :(
I think he has prolonged his campaign by holding out of the race but he will be exposed as a neo-con double talking DC insider soon enough.

Answer 5

Not a bit...I think his tactic have been very smart. It kept him from being lost in the "crowd" of candidates AND it allowed him to make appearances on TV that would not have been possible if he was an official candidate...equal time rule. He hasn't had to spend monies so early in the campaign. I don't know if he will ultimately win, but waiting to enter the race won't be the reason he doesn't win.

Answer 6

fred thompson hurt himself when he says he would do everything bush has done. and will continue. i don't want anyone that is a member of CFR to be president. why on earth would anyone support fred thompson for president? i guess people who are law and order fans and have no idea where fred thompson stands on the issues.

Answer 7

So late? The nomination is still a year away. I think it's disgusting that the campaigns are being forced to begin earlier and earlier each year. No, Thompson still has plenty of time to win the nomination. It will depend on his performance and ideas.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

No, he is actually earlier that in normal election years. Just because the rest of the yahoos started a year earlier, just so people would get used to the idea of a woman or a black doesn't mean that Fred is starting late.

Answer 10

No, I think those other nincompoops running for president started WAY too early and now I don't want to hear anything more they have to say.