Thoughts on Fred Thompson, After Two Days on the Bus
by Ryan Sager
Fri, 7 Sep 2007 at 9:38 PM
updated Fri, 7 Sep 2007 at 9:46 PM
Having spent a bit of time on Fred Thompson's rocky first day on the campaign trail here, and having criticized his evolving stance on gay marriage here, I wanted to offer a few broader, less focused (I mean that in a good way) thoughts after two days on the bus in Iowa.
My posting moment-to-moment has been hampered by a tight filing schedule and some very spotty (OK, nonexistent) Internet service today.
So, here are some of the thoughts I didn't get to post in real time:
1) While Mr. Thompson had a sluggish, lightly attended kick-off event in Des Moines, he'd shaken off a bit of the slug by evening, when the campaign hit Council Bluffs. It was an early evening, outdoor event with good turnout, and Mr. Thompson spoke from a platform next to the bus. His energy was up. He seemed more into his speech and less reading from painstakingly memorized cue cards. He fed off the crowd during the Q&A, despite a half-baked answer on education (he was asked about No Child Left Behind, which he voted for but now has to criticize). I've got a full video of this speech; as soon as possible, I'll get it up for your enjoyment.
2) Related to point one, Mr. Thompson seems to be given to wide variability in his performance. We've seen this a few times already. First, Mr. Thompson gave an ill-received speech in California — blasted for being low-energy. He then gave a much better speech in Connecticut. Even today, the morning speech in Sioux City was a bit stiff, sleepy. By evening in Mason City, he was upbeat and quick-witted and having a ball. Obviously any candidate, and any person, will have more energy at one time than at another. But more than the other candidates in the race — at least on the Republican side — how Mr. Thompson will perform on any given day seems to be a crap shoot.
3) Related to point two, there does, however, seem to be a pattern. Inside, early events: sleepy. Evening, less formal events: peppy. This could be the bias of a (very) small sample. But maybe Fred's just not a morning (or formal) kind of guy. There's been talk among reporters that he could just dump the stuffier events and focus on the kind where he does better.
4) Not particularly related to any of the above points ... the campaign shows some early signs of nimbleness. The changes I've noticed have been small, but I think they're real. For instance, I noted in my first column that it was odd to focus on not wanting to let America become "a weaker, less prosperous, and more divided nation." Not a bad sentiment, of course, but oddly gloomy and negative. Today, the stump speech focuses more on the positive mirror image of those words. Mr. Thompson has also taken the criticism that he sounds too gloomy. He addressed it specifically in his speech this evening in Mason City. He said that being optimistic all the time isn't such a good thing — that someone who smiles all the time, as he put it, doesn't know what's going on. Still, despite his defense of gloominess, he seem to be turning the tone around from "what's wrong" to "we can fix these problems."
Those are all the thoughts I can scrap together for now. My brain is fried, and if I scrape any harder at this point you'll just be getting the gunk off the grill. I'm sure I'll have a few more odds and ends — but now I'm departing from the Thompson announcement tour. It has a day in Cedar Rapids tomorrow, then goes to New Hampshire, and then to South Carolina. I meanwhile, will have a homecoming tour, with only one stop: Brooklyn ("Corn free since 1903").
(Have I mentioned the corn? There's a lot of it.)
Related Topics: GOP Primary
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