Fred Thompson visits Iowa, still not a candidate

He still hasn’t formally jumped in as a candidate, but Fred Thompson hit Des Moines today for a series of events, including the required strolling through the steamy Iowa State Fair. 

As we pointed out last month, not running has been good to Thompson in the polls. But his Iowa visit today led the Des Moines Register to point out that while the former U.S. senator and actor does whatever he’s doing to prepare an announcement whenever he decides to do that, valuable time is slipping by. 

Writes Thomas Beaumont: “Whether the actor-politician can be competitive in the caucuses, now only a few months away, will depend in part on how quickly he can assemble an Iowa campaign and how much time he invests personally in the labor-intensive act of meeting caucus-goers, GOP leaders say.”

But Thompson says he'll do fine, telling CNN’s John King that there’s plenty of campaigning time left, and if/when he gets in the race he’ll be able to build a winning machine for the Iowa caucuses.

Thompson also said he supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and would work to overturn Roe vs. Wade (which would be a bit of a personal overturn itself, given that he once lobbied for pro-choice groups). And once he does get in, he's got an established record of lobbying to defend. So far, he only warns critics not to confuse the lawyer with the client.

As for the Big Topic -- the war in Iraq -- Thompson skipped over the question of...

a timeline but offered this: “We need to make every effort to make sure that we don’t get run out of there with our tail between our legs before we’ve done the job of securing that place.” Lots of room for interpretation there, and we invite your comments below.

Thompson also addressed what King referred to as Washington “chatter” that Thompson was a “lazy” senator. “Well, if I have critics in Washington it's not going to come as a surprise to me,” Thompson said. “I'll have more by the end of this campaign. Proof’s in the pudding.”

He's right –- and these days the pudding is being cooked in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where Thompson isn't seen much.

The question still remains, does Thompson have enough time to get into the kitchen? At this stage of the game, most of the Republican campaign folks who really know Iowa politics and know how to propel people to the caucus sites are committed elsewhere. 

And while Thompson has attracted a fair amount of attention, and a respectable amount of support in polls, you have to wonder if such a late entry is a good strategy. The latest rumors have an announcement possibly coming in early September, but then previous rumors had it coming July 4th and several times since. Still nothing.

Thompson is getting plenty of free media now with the anticipation (like this blog post and the CNN interview), and that’s likely part of the plan. The Times' Mark Barabak has a story from the scene on this website and in Saturday's print editions. But Thompson has missed a number of image-building debates already. And you can almost hear voters drumming the table with their fingers and mumbling, “Well, let’s get on with it.”

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[rearose]

fred thompson is a bad luck candidate hes a horse year born and not very good to run in america.condi rice also a horse year born she contribute the bush bad luck- i know this and i tlel you this now-
ur physchic/clairvoyant lady

[Kevin Norte]

Will you guys in the Press stop reporting that Thompson is for a Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriage?
This is what I received via email directly from the Thompson camp:

Hey, Kevin, this is Jon Henke. I work for Fred Thompson.

CNN has mischaracterized Thompson's comment, and we have issued a
statement in response to clarify his position. Specifically, "Fred Thompson
does not support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage." He
supports the rights of States to choose their marriage law for
themselves.

Sorry about the confusion. Here's the full statement.

In an interview with CNN today, former Senator Fred Thompson's
position on constitutional amendments concerning gay marriage was unclear.

Thompson believes that states should be able to adopt their own laws on
marriage consistent with the views of their citizens.

He does not believe that one state should be able to impose its
marriage laws on other states, or that activist judges should construe the
constitution to require that.

If necessary, he would support a constitutional amendment prohibiting
states from imposing their laws on marriage on other states.

Fred Thompson does not support a constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage.

[Robert Stein]

Of all people, you folks should understand that Fred is just rehearsing his new role in a remake of "Shane," with a few new twists: