Thompson's First Campaign Event: Unimpressive
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 6 Sep 2007 at 4:11 PM
updated Thu, 6 Sep 2007 at 4:16 PM
I just attended Fred Thompson's first campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa. The quick take: This is a whimper of a start.
I'm writing from the filing center that the Thompson campaign has set up in the Polk County Convention Complex, and the verdict from the grizzled and cynical Des Moines press corps is harsh: "Pathetic" was the word used by one vet. "Small" and "low energy" were the words used to describe the crowd.
It's hard to disagree with that general take. The campaign — as campaigns do — deliberately chose a small room to amplify the size of the crowd. But even the small room was a good deal less than full. A couple volunteers (I assume) tried to start up a chant of "Go, Fred, Go!" during the speech. It ended pretty quickly. One woman fainted, but it probably wasn't from heat (the room was nicely air conditioned) and it definitely wasn't excitement.
As for the proceedings from the stage...
The introduction came from a local radio host, J. Michael McKoy (also known as Mac) from "Mac's World" on 98.3. Then there was a brief biopic about Mr. Thompson. This was a biography-heavy pitch for Mr. Thompson today.
Mr. Thompson came on stage to decent applause. His speech was rather unremarkable content-wise. We're certainly not at the "policy" stage of this campaign yet. And anyone who saw Mr. Thompson on Leno or watched his campaign video online didn't hear anything new.
"Something special is going on in this country," Mr. Thompson said at the beginning. "The pre-season is over."
The American people are ready, he said, for a "frank conversation," and he is going to start it.
"We're living in the era now of the suitcase bomb," he said. Islamic radicals want to destroy us, and it didn't start and it won't end in Iraq.
Back at home, he said, "the politicians have been quite busy" spending the people's money. We face an entitlement crisis that could mean "the ruination of our economy."
Mr. Thompson reiterated his support for term limits.
He touted his "common sense conservative," vintage 1994 Republican Revolution beliefs.
He made a nod to federalism: "Federalism is about freedom."
He touted — in an apparent attempt to combat the laziness charge — a "two volume" report he produced as chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, titled "Government at the Brink." In a line that certainly isn't kind to President Bush, he said: "It's even worse [now] than it was before."
He touched on immigration. He brought up (as the radio host and as the video did) his work shepherding Chief Justice Roberts through the Senate, declaring: "He needs some help."
After the speech, Mr. Thompson worked the crowd very briefly and then was out of sight.
Related Topics: GOP Primary
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