Campaign 2008

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/28/video-...ondents-dinner/

 

This is horrible.

[tominator89 0]

Candidate selector.

 

http://selectsmart.com/plus/select.php?url=08frontrunners

 

Barack Obama was my top response.

 

Somehow I got 100% for Newt Gingrich.

[snuffbox 0]

MC Rove was fucking awesome.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I still find the existence of that banquet to be reprehensible. Public figures tell a crowd how much of a fuckup they are, and people laugh!

[snuffbox 0]

Drudge has a link up saying 'McGovern endorses Hillary'. I was going to vomit but it turned out to just be Mass Rep. James McGovern. Close call, though.

[Dr. Zaius 0]

Tommy Thompson to seek Republican nomination

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson officially announced his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination Sunday, telling ABC's "This Week" he is confident about his chances.

 

"In Iowa, the polls last week came out that I was in fifth place and moving up and at 5 percent," he said, adding that things are starting "to coalesce, and I feel very, very optimistic about my future."

 

The former four-term governor of Wisconsin set up a presidential exploratory committee in December and filed a statement of candidacy in January. His campaign spokesman said last month that Thompson's formal announcement would come in early April. (Gallery: Possible contenders)

 

Thompson, a senior partner in a law firm, said he is hoping to appeal to Republicans who feel that other GOP candidates are not conservative enough on economic and social issues.

 

"I am the reliable conservative, my record shows that," he said. "All that people have to do is look at my record, and I am one individual that they can count on."

 

Thompson spoke Sunday about his stance on Iraq, saying he believes a timetable for troop withdrawal, as called for by the Democrat-led Congress, would give the terrorists in Iraq an opportunity to "hunker down" and "outlast the Americans." He said he would pull out U.S. troops only at the Iraqi government's request.

 

Thompson also said he thinks Iraq should be set up like the United States, with Iraq's 18 territories having elected leaders that would report to a federal government.

 

"The Shiites would elect Shiites, Sunnis would elect Sunnis, Kurds would elect Kurds, and there would be a gravitation of people going to those things, and it would reduce this terrible internecine civil war," he said.

 

Oil revenues, he said, should be dealt with like the state of Alaska -- one-third should go to the federal government, one-third to the territorial governments, and the remaining third split "to every man, woman and child."

 

Asked about what he would do for the 47 million Americans not covered by health insurance, the former health secretary said he would allow insurance companies to bid on groups of uninsured Americans to help reduce emergency room visits.

 

"It's an insurable group because one-third of those individuals between the ages 18 and 35 ... make over $60,000 a year," Thompson said. "It would be a tremendous group."

 

Thompson made headlines in late 2004, when he was departing his post. "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do, and we're importing a lot of food from the Middle East," he said at the time.

 

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general issued a report saying the department has failed to adequately protect the U.S. food supply.

 

"Most experts we spoke with regarded the food sector as highly vulnerable to attack. They considered food sector security to be less intensive than the security for other critical infrastructures," the audit said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/01/ele...pson/index.html

[snuffbox 0]

Tommy's big problem will be his numerous affairs. Those rumors and stories will definitly come to the surface with him being on the national stage.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I doubt the GOP machine will get behind him, either.

[snuffbox 0]

He has as good a chance as anyone else with the GOP machine. That sect certainly hasn't chosen their boy yet. I'm sure they would love to have Newt but I think even they might realize how badly that election would go.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Newt vs Hillary would be quite a show, though.

[Gary Floyd 0]

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

The weirdest thing happening right now in the GOP primary is the fact that Mitt Romney is the leading fundraiser but can barely break 5% in polls. Fred Thompson (of Law & Order) just mentions that he's considering running and immediately bolts ahead of Romney.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Newt vs Hillary would be quite a show, though.

 

I think such an election would seriously be an opportunity for a 3rd party candidate to make major headway.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Here is the amount of money each candidate has raised in the Q1 of 2007. In millions, obviously.

 

Republicans

 

Romney $23

Giuliani $15

McCain $12.5

Huckabee $0.5

TOTAL $51

 

Democrats

 

Clinton $26

Obama $25

Edwards $14

Richardson $6

Dodd $4

Biden $3

TOTAL: $78

[snuffbox 0]

McCain seems to be considering giving it up. That would probably be for the best.

[Dr. Zaius 0]

Those numbers tell us 2 things:

 

1) how much staying power each person has,

 

and

 

2) how many rich friends each person has.

 

Still, I'm pretty surprised Huckabee isn't doing better. Story after story talks about conservative discontent with the field of McCain/Guiliani/Romney, but then almost never mentions guys like Huckbee or Brownback as even running. Weird.

[snuffbox 0]

It is nice to see Tommy Thompson lives in reality and refers to Iraq as a civil war.

[gWIL 0]

Don't underestimate the Mormon, the national polls don't always do the canidate justice:

 

"Mitt Romney "has rocketed to the top of the field of contenders for the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary crown, running dead even with Arizona Sen. John McCain at 25% each," a new Zogby telephone poll shows. Rudy Giuliani finds himself in third place in the Granite State at 19% support"

 

"In North Carolina, a new Public Policy Polling survey shows Sen. John Edwards leading in his home state's Democratic presidential race with 39% support, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 25% and Sen. Barack Obama at 20%.

 

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 30%, trailed by Sen. John McCain at 19% and Mitt Romney at 14%. "

 

"A new University of Iowa poll finds John Edwards leading the other Democratic candidates in the first caucus state. Edwards was ahead with 34%, followed by Clinton with 28% and Obama with 19%. No other Democrat reached 2%.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) edged out Rudy Giuliani, 21% to 20%. Mitt Romney trailed with 17%."

 

-politicalinsider.com

 

He's gaining ground, slowly but surely.

[snuffbox 0]

Tommy Thompson stole the show yesterday at the big GOP dinner in Iowa.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

What'd he say?

[Gary Floyd 0]

McCain seems to be considering giving it up. That would probably be for the best.

Agreed. By becoming a Bush toadie, he pretty much fucked himself over, and has no chance in winning now.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Snuffy, ya boy Tommy Thompson:

 

WASHINGTON - Former Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson told Jewish activists Monday that making money is "part of the Jewish tradition," and something that he applauded.

 

Speaking to an audience at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington D.C., Thompson said that, "I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money. You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

 

Thompson later apologized for the comments that had caused a stir in the audience, saying that he had meant it as a compliment, and had only wanted to highlight the "accomplishments" of the Jewish religion.

 

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_04_15_atri...674748460610844

 

One of the Thompsons needs to drop out of the GOP primary, because it's confusing.

[Guest Eagle Man]

Buncha money-changers.

[Hasbeen1 0]

Can anybody point out what was bad in his statement?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Can anybody point out what was bad in his statement?

 

He hinted at the stereotype of the money grubbing Jew.

 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsourc...ust/eternal.jpg

[Guest Eagle Man]

Can anybody point out what was bad in his statement?

"I'm making money like the Jews are known to do" needs to be pointed out for you?

 

I guess this is just the sort of benign anti-Semitism that you develop when you're a Catholic or Lutheran in rural Wisconsin. Not to overstep my boundaries and start speculating too much, but I bet Tommy grew up using slang like "I got jewed" or "don't jew me down" without really being aware of how one could be offended, seeing as, like I said, when you're a Catholic or Lutheran in rural Wisconsin, the Jewish people are more of a vague antagonistic concept than people you work, play, and otherwise coexist with. I mean, if he wanted to acknowledge that Jewish Americans have overcome great odds to be successful, then that's one thing, but to practically say "yeah, I'm rakin' it in like a Jew!" is not quite malevolent, but just really tactless. This'll hurt Thompson's bid juuust a tad, to say the least, which is a shame, since I think he's one of the good guys in this race. Not his fault he's a cheesehead.

[snuffbox 0]

He's not my boy. The only Thompson I've ever worked for was his brother (Ed) during his Governor bid in '02. I just think it would be neat to have someone from Wisconsin on a national ticket and, not counting La Follette's third party bids back in the day or Lucey as an Indepent VP in '80, Tommy is the best chance we've ever had. I do think he's better than most of the GOP options, though.

 

As of right now Ron Paul is my boy.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I still don't get why Feingold decided not to run.

 

I voted for Ed, BTW.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Ed who?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Ed Thompson, Tommy's brother.