Is the Good Ship Fred Righting Its Course?

Thursday, August 09, 2007

FRED THOMPSON

The mood within Team Fred is a bit more optimistic with yesterday’s news that William Lacy will be taking the reins of the not-quite campaign.

While friends of Fred will try to make the case that the troubles of the past weeks were minor bumps in the road, I’m told the mood within Fred-land was gloomy, as suggested by the sudden departures and fairly low-profile schedule for the not-quite-candidate. What we on the outside didn’t see were the tensions at the top and a sense of confusion over what the next steps were…

A quirk of the not-quite-campaign so far has been Thompson’s collection of talented people and putting them in unexpected or counterintuitive positions.

Randy Enwright, for example, has great experience running state efforts of national Republican campaigns in Florida, as well as a fine stint at the Iowa GOP. But was he the right man to run an entire national campaign? Now with Lacy on board, it appears he’ll be able to focus on his strengths.

I noted that Jim Mills is – well, was - a talented, smart, jovial reporter and producer for Fox News; the question is how he works on the other side of the microphone.

Former senator and energy secretary Spencer Abraham is not “campaign manager”, at least as that title is commonly perceived; he’s more a key adviser. Those hyperventilating that Fred’s close friendship with and trust of Abraham means that he automatically adopts the former Michigan senator’s stand on immigration are, unsurprisingly, barking up the wrong tree. (Perhaps candidates should impose some sort of ideological apartheid for who they converse with.)

Lacy is one of the few political operatives with the right combination of personal experience with Fred’s past senatorial campaigns and significant experience successful national campaigns – running Reagan’s campaign in the Maryland primary in 1980 and serving political director of the Republican National Committee during Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, California senior consultant for then Vice President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. With him now standing out as a trusted and experienced voice, the “lineup” for Team Fred might finally be gelling.

Those of us on the outside might want to remember that while campaign documentaries like “The War Room” make it seem like Clinton’s 1992 campaign consisted of the Clintons, George Stephanopolous, James Carville and a bunch of young interns, a successful presidential campaign requires accumulating hundreds of paid staff and volunteers. Very few candidates – mostly only those in political dynasties like the Bushes and/or Clintons – can press a button and see a campaign organization with the right people in the right place assemble overnight.

Jeri Thompson’s resume, as detailed in the Washington Post piece, demonstrates that she’s neither a neophyte who has no business influencing campaign decisions like Teresa Heinz nor a natural born campaign architect. Like most candidate’s wives, it’s a given she is Fred’s most trusted and influential observer. The question, raised in some quarters, is whether she, or any campaign wife, has the objectivity to see the candidate’s flaws and to make the unpopular arguments.

I’m told Thompson himself is actually pleased with the not-quite-campaign so far, and is watching the still-pretty-high poll numbers.

One other note which might explain the troubles of recent weeks: John McCain has been thinking about running for president since 1998, and clearly has been taking preparatory steps, collecting staff, etc., for the past few years. For Giuliani, his heavy-duty efforts for the national GOP began in 2002. For Romney, clearly he saw his 2002 election as the governor of Massachusetts as a natural stepping stone to bigger things.

As of late last year, Fred Thompson aspired to radio commentator Paul Harvey’s job, not President George W. Bush’s job.

UPDATE:

"One man has played the president, the CIA director, an admiral, a White House chief of staff, the director of Dulles Airport, and the Manhattan District attorney. The other man has played Franklin Roosevelt and the Secretary of Defense, taking on giant robots. In 2008, Vote Thompson-Voight, for a ticket with gravitas."

08/09 09:12 AM Share