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Buzz hears a number of former Fred Thompson supporters -- including some top fund-raisers -- are joining Mitt Romney's campaign.
A formal announcement is expected to follow in the next day but the Romney campaign confirmed the addition of these folks: Former State Rep. Sandy Safley, Robin Safley, Brewser Brown, Foyt Ralston, Pete Dunbar, Clark Smith, Anita Mitchell. State Rep. Garrett Richter also was spotted at a Romney event in Naples yesterday.
Top Fred Thompson supporters have been inundated with phone calls from rival campaigns since the news he'll withdrawal from the race. But so far, few have decided on their next horse.
Read below to see some early converts and others who are on the fence.
Continue reading "Thompson's supporters split among rivals" »
"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people." -- Fred Thompson
Mike Huckabee, in an interview moments ago on MSNBC: "Right now what we've got to do is to make sure a lot of those people who thought Fred was, as I once said, the Mighty Mouse candidate ... (know) we would be their most logical choice."
Continue reading "Where will Fred Thompson's FL support go?" »
Rasmussen: Romney 25%; McCain 20%; Giuliani 19%; Huckabee 13%; Thompson 12%; Ron Paul 5%
Fred Thompson placed a disappointing third in South Carolina, his make-or-break state, and then gave an ambiguous speech Saturday night that left supporters wondering about his next move.
Top Florida organizers dialed Thompson staffers first thing Sunday asking if they still had a candidate. Thompson, unlike all the other leading Republicans, has yet to announce travel plans to the Sunshine State. Campaign staffers promise it's coming soon.
The Huckabee campaign is touting a high-profile defection from Fred Thompson's camp. "John Stemberger, a leading voice in the conservative movement of Florida has switched his personal endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination ..., " a news release boasts. Stemberger will co-chair Huckabee's "Faith and Family Values Coalition for Florida."
"Gov. Huckabee is without question the best candidate to breathe new life and fresh hope into a nation and its people who are fed up with scandal, corruption and big-money power politics. Mike Huckabee is a proven leader with executive experience and a solid record as a champion for pro-life and pro-family values, Stemberger said. "As a result, he has won the trust of more social conservative leaders across America than any other candidate. He has also proven that he is a viable candidate who can take us all the way home by winning both the primary and the general elections."
Update: The Tampa Tribune has endorsed McCain.
Former Florida legislator Sandy Murman is bolting from Fred Thompson's camp and joining up with Sen. John McCain, according to Mark Sharpe, who co-chairs McCain's Hillsborough effort. Just last month, Thompson announced Murman would help lead Thompson's Hillsborough push. McCain will criss-cross Florida with his Straight Talk bus tour beginning Jan. 20, the day after the South Carolina primaries. Sharpe said the itinerary will include a swing through Tampa.
Exact dates haven't been set, but McCain plans to be in the Sunshine State through the Jan. 29 primary. Polls show McCain neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney for first place in Michigan, second to Mike Huckabee in South Carolina and his numbers are on the rise in Florida. "He's doing beautifully," Sharpe said. "It's right where he wants to be."
Janet Zink, Times staff writer
Call them consistent at least. Fresh from Fred Thompson's dismal 1-percent showing in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, nearly a dozen state legislators stood firm in support of the former Tennessee senator's presidential bid. The lawmakers were led by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, who said Thompson "absolutely" needs to do well in South Carolina and Florida -- and will.
"This is an election season very much in flux," Putnam said. "People wrote John McCain off last summer, and he's the champion of New Hampshire. People wrote off Fred Thompson before Iowa and he placed a strong third." With Michigan up next, followed by S.C., Putnam said "absolutely" Thompson will not exit the race before Florida.
Others on hand for the keep-a-stiff-upper-lip Thompson event included Sen. Paula Dockery and Reps. Marty Bowen, Larry Cretul, Clay Ford, Doug Holder, Denise Grimsley, Seth McKeel, Bryan Nelson, Steve Precourt and Garrett Richter. All of them signed a letter last May urging Thompson to enter the race for president -- before the Thompson boomlet burst. "We will be withhim to the very end," Cretul said.
InsiderAdvantage 1/7 poll for Southern Political Report: Giuliani 24%; Huckabee 19% McCain 19%; Romney 13%; Thompson 8%; Paul 5%; Hunter 1%; No Opinion: 11%.
Clinton 40%; Obama: 32%; Edwards 9%; Richardson 6%; Kucinich 2%; No Opinion: 10%
Tucked deep inside a Thompson campaign statement today about its focus on the upcoming South Carolina primary was this revealing statement:
"The campaign's headquarters staff is going above and beyond the call of duty to shift the focus to South Carolina, as well. National office staff will work for reduced pay through the South Carolina voting." (Emphasis added).
A victory for the native Southern son in the Palmetto state -- where an average of polls put him virtually tied for fourth with Rudy Giuliani -- is key to his plans for a big show in Florida. But will he have the money to make it here?
Continue reading "Thompson have fuel to make it to Florida?" »
Helping Fred Thompson revive his campaign in Iowa is his national political director, veteran Florida strategist Randy Enwright, who also used to be executive director of the Iowa GOP. The Buzz in Florida is that Enwright hasn't had as much latitude calling the shots as he hoped, but Thompson has long sung his praises.
"Randy's kind of a legend. I've heard about him from Iowa and Florida. He was just somebody everybody respected. So we called him up, talked to him two or three times and talked him into joining us,'' Thompson told us awhile back.
Other Thompsonites with Florida ties in Iowa are former Jeb Bush spokesman Todd Harris, former RPOFer Jeff Sadosky, and until a couple days ago, Brandi Brown. We promised not to reveal which Fred Thompson staffer was on purse-carrying duty for Jerri Thompson last night, but let's just say his name rhymes with Shmeff Shmadosky.
On ground in Iowa for Mitt Romney are Kristy Campbell and Al Cardenas.
"Those first couple races are going to dictate what happens next," said Democratic pollster Dave Beattie. "If Hillary wins Iowa it's much more difficult for Obama or Edwards to close the gap." But the Republican race is so full of viable candidates that even talk of the primary stretching into a brokered convention no longer seems entirely far-fetched.
"Everybody's goal, on both sides, is to be one of the two or three people still viable on Feb. 5," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "If there are three viable Republicans still standing on the morning of Feb. 5, you have the possibility this could go on a long, long time, possibly to the convention."
The scenarios are countless, but we've narrowed it to seven. See here.
Republican Fred Thompson started late, so maybe it's no surprise that a month before the Sunshine State votes his campaign is naming its northeast Florida grassroots team.
The folks below will cover Alachua, Clay, Columbia, Duval and Gilchrist Counties.
UPDATE: The Thompson campaign said these folks aren't "new;" many have been with the campaign from the start. Apparently just the media release is new.
Also, the campaign's Florida political director Brandi Brown is headed to Iowa after the Christmas holiday to help run the operations the last week before the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Continue reading "Month before election, Thompson names grassroots leaders" »
Two more polls show Mike Huckabee giving Rudy Giuliani a run for his money in 
Florida. Maybe that explains why Rudy's campaign has cut back his TV expenses in New Hampshire, to give it more flexibility and resources for must-win Florida.
Strategic Vision's 12/14-16 poll : Rudy Giuliani 25%; Mike Huckabee 21%; John McCain 15%; Mitt Romney 13%; Fred Thompson 10% Ron Paul 4%; Tom Tancredo 2%; Duncan Hunter 1%; and 9% undecided. “Republicans could potentially have four to five viable candidates when the race comes to Florida. Such a scenario would benefit Guilaini as it would divide the conservative vote. Most interesting is the McCain revival particularly in the I-4 corridor,” said a statement from Strategic Vision CEO David "Not DJ, the former RPOF executive director" Johnson.
Then there's the new SurveyUSA automated poll: Giuliani 29%; Huckabee 24%; Romney 20%; McCain 10%; Thompson 8%; other 6%, undecided 3%.
From Datamar, 12/9-13 (656 Rs): Huckabee 25%, Giuliani 21%, Romney 19%; McCain 10%; Thompson 9%; Paul 5%. Among 600 Ds: Clinton 44%; Obama 20%; Edwards 14% Richardson 4%.
We don't vouch for all these polls, we just blog em
Republican Fred Thompson added a well known name to his Florida team today. He received the endorsement of Dr. Gary Cass, Fort Lauderdale resident and a long-time pro-life activist who is the current chairman of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.
(For the campaign's full release, read below.)
UPDATE: It appears the Thompson campaign is making a strong effort today to shore up social conservatives. Moments after the above announcement, it issued a statement today saying Thompson supports the efforts to ban gay marraige in Florida. It seems he is following Mitt Romney's lead amid a surge by Mike Huckabee.
"I applaud the work of Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage," he said in a statement. "Their efforts will give the people of Florida a voice on this very important subject. ... As President, I will appoint judges who apply the law, not make it up from the bench. We should not be held subject to judicially created social policy, and I will use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to defend the institution of marriage."
Continue reading "Thompson adds key Christian leader; endorses marriage amendment" »
... So says Fred Thompson, who is straining to keep his presidential hopes alive and sharpening his attacks by the day.
Thompson spent Monday in Miami bashing Mike Huckabee over his transformation on Cuba and couldn't resist another round this morning -- this time going after Huckabee and Mitt Romney.
"One thing has become abundantly clear after watching Gov. Mike Huckabee abandon his long-held opposition to the Cuba trade embargo after it became politically inconvenient: In all the close rhetorical combat of the campaign, a little bit of Mitt Romney must be rubbing off on Mike Huckabee."
At Presidency IV the rumors flew fast and furious that Marco Rubio was about to endorse Fred Thompson. Didn't happen. As the Univision debate in Miami looms, the rumors are flying that the House Speaker is about to endorse Mike Huckabee, who has reached out to him recently. We haven't reached Rubio yet, but his pal David Rivera, also officially neutral for now, said he hasn't heard of any pending endorsement from Rubio.
Republican Fred Thompson rolled out his local grassroots organizers for the Tampa Bay area. These folks -- including a number of big names -- are leading the charge as chairman for their respective counties:
In Pinellas, County Commission Chairman Ronnie Duncan; in Hillsborough, Sandy Murman, former House Speaker Pro Tem and state committeeman A.J. Matthews; in Pasco, the trifeca of Zephyrhills Councilman Danny Burgess, Dade City Mayor Pro Tem Steve Van Gorden and Property Appraiser Mike Wells; in Hernando, Commission Chairman Jeff Stabins; and in Manatee, Bradenton Vice Mayor Gene Gallo and Bradenton Councilman Patrick Roff.
For a full list of local organizers keep reading below.
For Hillary Clinton sweating it out in Iowa, Florida can't come soon enough. Here's the latest from Quinnipiac's Swing State Polling (11/26-12/3):
"Clinton tops Obama 53 – 17 percent among all Democrats and 56 – 13 percent among women. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards gets 7 percent. Giuliani gets 30 percent of Republican votes, with 12 percent for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 11 percent for Huckabee, 10 percent for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and 9 percent for Arizona Sen. John McCain."
"Clinton tops Giuliani 48 – 41 percent; Giuliani led 46 – 43 percent October 25....Clinton tops McCain 47 – 40 percent, Thompson 52 – 36 percent, Romney 50 – 36 percent and Huckabee 50 – 35 percent; Giuliani bests Obama 45 – 37 percent and Edwards 43 – 39 percent."
Craig Briscoe, president of the Republican Club of Bonita & Estero, will serve as Fred Thompson's field director of Charlotte, Collier, Desoto, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties. "Craig has a great deal of experience in grassroots organization and is extremely knowledgeable of local politics," said Todd Thomson, executive director Thompson's Florida Campaign.
For most of the past year, the Giuliani and Romney campaigns have been waging aggressive, mostly unseen campaigns to identify and mobilize voters and key opinion leaders to build excitement, momentum and infrastructure to win Florida's Jan. 29 primary. So what are the field marshals for Romney, Giuliani and Thompson up to? Take a peek here.
The results are in from the rained out "Have Your Say Tampa Bay" straw poll and debate watch rally:
Romney 893; Paul; 534 Giuliani 39; Huckabee 37; Thompson 21; McCain 12; Hunter 4; Keyes 2; Tancredo 1.
InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research 11/25-26 poll of 675 likely Florida Republican voters: Rudy Giuliani (26%); Mike Huckabee (17%); John McCain (13%); Mitt Romney (12%); Fred Thompson (9%); Ron Paul (3%); Duncan Hunter (1%); Tom Tancredo (1%); Undecided (18%).
“Mike Huckabee’s sudden traction in the GOP race is similar to the jolt of publicity Fred Thompson enjoyed when he officially announced his candidacy,” Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate, said in FloridaInsider. “Now Huckabee must take advantage of the opportunity if he is to separate himself from all the other candidates trying to overtake Giuliani. And Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson are now under even more pressure to come up with powerful performances of their own in St. Pete Wednesday,” Towery said.
Check out the Republican hopefuls Wednesday night in St. Petersburg for the CNN/YouTube debate and you'll see four or five candidates with plausible paths to the nomination. A Republican primary so volatile and unpredictable is practically unheard of in modern political history. So let's step back and review the long, strange trip that has taken us to this point. "They say in politics that a week is an eternity. In this case, a year has been a century because of all the changes we've seen," marveled Republican consultant Adam Goodman, a former Rudy Giuliani adviser who's unaffiliated this cycle.
The most important day of the 2008 GOP primary? Consider Aug. 11, 2006. Virginia Sen. George Allen calls a Democratic staffer of Indian descent a "macaca," starting the demise of Allen's re-election campaign against Democrat James Webb and snuffing the presidential aspirations of a man widely seen as a conservative superstar. More here.
Handicap the debate field here.
PENSACOLA - Presidential candidate Fred Thompson returned to Florida last week for a campaign rally in this military city at a time when his campaign needs to rally.
The meager crowd, no more than 100, waited in the cool bright morning for twice as long as the speech itself lasted. Just feet from the stage, along the ledge of the pier, a blowfish rotted in the sun. The parallels to Thompson's campaign in Florida are inescapable. For the first time, he arrived in Florida not as a promising upstart but at the back of the GOP pack, with a campaign badly needing some life.
More here.
Fred Thompson's campaign named a handful of volunteer grassroots leaders in Miami-Dade to help boost its outreach to Latino voters -- a territory rival Rudy Giuliani is putting great effort in reaching.
County leadership positions announced today include co-chairs: Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell and Miami-Dade Commissioners Joe Martinez and Natacha Seijas. The latter two previously endorsed Thompson when he appeared at Miami's Urbeita Oil in October. Other's involved Lois Jones, Chris Miles and Luis Rodriguez.
Mason-Dixon has Giuliani beating Clinton in Florida 50% to 43%, and while 57 percent of voters said they would consider voting for the former New York mayor only 49 percent said they would consider voting for the New York senator. Thompson beats her 48-44, and Romney 46-45.
About one in five voters said they would be less likely to vote Democrat because the of DNC penalties and candidate boycott over Flordida's early primary.
Republican Fred Thompson appeared to change his tune on the Terri Schiavo issue during a taped interview aired this morning on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos.
As you may recall, Thompson has bungled this issue from the start. But in private discussions with the National Right to Life Committee -- which endorsed Thompson last week -- David O'Steen, executive director, said Thompson clarified his position on end-of-life issues, such as the Schiavo case. Now he thinks state governments can get involved on a state-by-state basis.
Read below for a rough transcript, as best we could get from the Buzz DVR.
Continue reading "Thompson changing tune on Schiavo case?" »
The buzz at the Republican convention in Orlando a few weeks ago was that House Speaker Marco Rubio was going to endorse Fred Thompson. It never happened.
Speculation grew when Rubio and the former senator were listed as guests at the Florida Family Policy Council dinner, which took place last night at the Weston Diplomat in Hollywood.
But once again, Rubio was mum about who he would back.
“I’m very interested in his campaign,” Rubio said of Thompson, according to the Palm Beach Post. But Rubio also said he likes other candidates.
New Mason-Dixon numbers for Florida show Rudy Giuliani rising at the expense of Fred Thompson, who's dropped 11 points since Mason-Dixon's Sept. Florida poll. Weirdly, Barack Obama's unfavorables (54 favorable/26 unfavorable) are worse than than Hillary Clinton's (62/23). In a two-person Florida primary, Hillary beats Obama 54% to 34%. The Sentinel has more here.
GOP PRIMARY VOTE 11/07 9/07
Giuliani 36% 24%
Romney 15% 13%
Thompson 12% 23%
McCain 10% 9%
Huckabee 8% 6%
Others 4% 3%
Undecided 15% 22%
---------
State men women
Hillary Clinton 42% 36% 46%
Barack Obama 15% 14% 16%
John Edwards 12% 14% 11%
Bill Richardson 7% 10% 5%
Joe Biden 3% 3% 3%
Chris Dodd 1% 2% -
Dennis Kucinich 1% 1% 1%
Mike Gravel - - -
Undecided (NOT READ) 19% 20% 18%
Get ready Florida for another nail biter presidential election. A new St. Petersburg /Bay News 9 poll shows America's biggest battleground state is up for grabs by either Republicans or Democrats, and that neither of the front-runners for their party nominations, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton, has Florida locked up yet.
"Florida is poised to be both a bellwether and maybe even a shocker and a bit of a surprise for presidential politics in 2008," said pollster Kellyanne Conway.
Former New York Mayor Giuliani beat Clinton by 5 percentage points among the 800 registered voters surveyed Nov. 4-7, and Arizona Sen. John McCain was neck-and-neck with Clinton in head-to-head matchups. But independent voters, strongly disenchanted with the Iraq war, President Bush and the direction of the country, make Florida's 27 electoral votes ripe for Democrats to pluck. Florida Democrats overwhelmingly favor Clinton, who had 48 percent support compared to 24 percent for Barack Obama. Eight percent favored former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Clinton's strongest area was Tampa Bay, where she had 60 percent support among Democrats but still lagged Giuliani and McCain in Tampa Bay.
Among Republican voters, former Tennessee Sen. and Law & Order star Fred Thompson is proving to be nowhere near the force many had expected when he entered the race in September. The poll showed him in fifth place with 8 percent support, behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, with 9 percent, McCain with 12 percent, Mitt Romney with 19 percent and Giuliani with 36 percent in the state he declares a must-win. (Read the story here.)
Christian conservative leaders nationally are torn between the various GOP front-runners. But Fred Thompson announced a key local addition to his Florida team Friday.
Barbara Collier, leader of the Christian Coalition in Broward County and local co-chair of the Bush-Cheney 2004 effort, joined the former Tennessee senator's campaign as a Broward County grassroots organizer.
In neighboring Palm Beach County, lobbyist Anita Mitchell and activist Bill Hall jumped on board. (Full details from the press release below.)
Continue reading "Thompson adds Christian leader to Florida team" »
Not everybody loves robo-pollsters like SurveyUSA, but we see some interesting tidbits in the cross-tabs of its latest Florida poll: Among regular Law & Order watchers likely to vote in the GOP primary, 38% back Giuliani, compared to 20 percent for Law & Order actor Fred Thompson and 19% for Mitt Romney. Rudy leads among self-described conservatives, with 30% support, compared to 20 percent for Romney and 22% for Thompson, who leads the pack in north Florida.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton is trouncing Barack Obama by 37 percentage points, though SurveyUSA finds African-Americans support Obama over Hillary, 56% to 41%.
The poll also found that 56% of Florida voters are uncertain how they'll vote on the property tax amendment.
Fred Thompson's campaign added to its already lengthy list of Florida staffers today.
Included in the announcement: Jennifer Marks, the former press secretary for Katherine Harris' senate campaign last year. She will join Tim Buckley in directing the grassroots efforts in the Tampa Bay region.
John Hallman, a Boca Raton lobbyist who harped on issues such as property tax reform and school choice, will direct the grassroots efforts in Palm Beach and Broward counties.
For more operatives added as field volunteers, click below.
Continue reading "Found, one former Katherine Harris staffer ..." »
At least that's the implication from his quote today in the Concord Monitor after he filed to run in the Granite state: "Thompson made a "solid commitment" to support New Hampshire's first-place status, but he said he would not interfere with the Republican National Committee, which is poised to strip New Hampshireof half its convention delegates if the state holds it primary before Feb. 5."
Mitt Romney, remember, is already clearly on record promising he'll push to seat all of Florida's Republican delegates to the national convention in St. Paul.
From a 10/17-19 Florida Chamber poll by Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion Research: Crist has 79% approval rating even as 51% say Florida is heading in the wrong direction; 39% say property taxes are most important issue, followed health care 18%; property insurance 16% and education 8%.
"Property taxes have made a significant increase in voter consciousness from 33 percent of voters to 39 percent," said Marian Johnson, political veteran and vice-president of political strategy for the Florida Chamber. "This sudden 6 percent increase underscores the recent increase in voter frustration with the property tax issue."
On the presidential front, Mitt's now no. 2: Guiliani – 33%; Romney – 17%; Thompson – 13%; McCain – 9%; No opinion – 17%. Among Ds: Clinton – 53%; Obama – 19%; Edwards – 9%; In the general election: Hilliary Clinton – 37%, Rudy Guiliani – 34%, Undecided – 29%. She beats Thompson 39-31 and Romney 39-32.
We'll get the answer in Florida. ... Who will be in the race come Jan. 29? At this point the surest bets look like Giuliani, who is virtually launching his campaign from Florida, and former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, who hopes to win the early primaries and ride a wave of momentum into Florida and knock off Giuliani in his top-priority state. More here.
In Florida, destitute John McCain and and Mike Huckabee are virtually invisible, and neither Mitt Romney nor Fred Thompson has managed to get social conservatives to unite behind them. So if you're a Christian conservative political activist how in the world do you take out a moderate like Rudy Giuliani?
Fred Thompson's campaign set up its Florida shop in Tallahassee recently. Here's the information, including the creative phone number. The only thing better would be if the address matched the election year.
Florida Friends of Fred Thompson
2002A Greenwood Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32303
Phone: (850) 671-FRED (3733)
Fax: (850) 850-325-6744
On Tuesday, Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter sat down with Fred Thompson to talk illegal immigration on the morning the GOP presidential candidate rolled out his reform plan.
Today, just two days later, Hunter officially endorsed Thompson's closest rival, Mitt Romney.
The Massachusetts governor's campaign has talked to the sheriff for some time, but didn't get the OK from Hunter to announce the endorsement until late Wednesday.
If Hunter gave Thompson a chance when they met, it appears he didn't past the test.
Read the news release below.
Continue reading "Sheriff meets with Thompson; picks Romney" »
The newest poll from Quinnipiac University: "Giuliani still dominates a Republican primary, with 30 percent, but Arizona Sen. John McCain has bounced back to 14 percent, tying former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 12 percent. This compares to an October 10 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University which showed Giuliani with 27 percent, Thompson with 19 percent, Romney with 17 percent and McCain trailing with 8 percent."
"Sen. Clinton leads a Democratic primary with 43 percent, down from 51 percent October 10, while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's 18 percent is little changed. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards gets 12 percent. "
Among Florida's independent voters, 22 percent say they are less likely to vote for a Democrat for president because of the Democratic National Committee's decision to strip the state of its national convention delegates because of Florida's early presidential primary.
UPDATE: Stemberger says he hasn't taken any criticism over Thompson's speech, but he wanted to clarify the matter because people were asking if the Council was endorsing Thompon.
Florida Family Policy Council chief John Stemberger sounds like he's taking some flak for having Fred Thompson keynote the Council's 11/16 gala dinner in Hollywood. Hence the letter he sent out clarifying Thompson's gig: "Mr. Thompson is attending our event as a former US Senator and as a well known actor in the Law & Order television series. He is not participating as a candidate for president and has agreed not to make any mention or reference to his campaign or the election during his time with us.
"Second, Mr. Thompson is helping our organization raise money by appearing at this event at no charge...We need to raise a substantial a substantial amount of money to educate people on the importance of one man, one woman marriage and its benefits to children and the common good of society."
NAPLES – Highlighting an issue that divides GOP front-runners, presidential candidate Fred Thompson staked out his position on immigration Tuesday morning, debuting a seven-point plan that includes withholding federal grant money from states, cities and public colleges who aid illegal immigrants.
In an event with Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter, Thompson said the federal government needs to enforce laws on the books that crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities where local authorities don’t report illegal immigrants to the federal government.
On this point, he criticized former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"In 1996, we passed a bill when I was in Senate that outlawed sanctuary cities,” he said. “Mayor Giuliani went to court to defeat that law and unfortunately he won.
“And still across the country there are many sanctuary cities … and I don’t think they ought to be able to do that with federal money. And there’s discretionary funding programs out there, and we need to tell them if you are going to have sanctuary cities in violation of law you are not getting federal money."
Continue reading "Thompson lays out immigration policy in Naples" »
Last time Fred Thompson weighed in on Terri Schiavo in Florida, he suggested he didn't know much about the case. His account changed a bit today: ""As far as Schiavo is concerned obviously I knew about the Schiavo case. I had to face a situation like that in my own personal life with my own daughter. I know it is bandied about as a political issue and people want to … talk about in the public marketplace.
“I am a little bit uncomfortable because this is an intensely personal thing for me. These things need to be decided by the family. I was at that bedside and I had to make those decisions with the rest of my family, and I will assure you one thing -- no matter which decision you make you’ll never know whether you made exactly the right decision.
---John Frank
Sam Newby, vice chairman of Florida Federation of Black Republicans and president of the Jacksonville-area Joseph E. Lee Republican club, is known as a tireless campaign worker and until Saturday had been an ardent Rudy Giuliani supporter. No longer. Like a number of African-American Republicans we spoke to, he's jumped to Team Romney after Rudy opted not to pop into the Black Republicans reception Saturday.
"As African-Americans, we're not going to be taken for granted any more,'' said Newby, pictured here. "That sent a message to me that we're not good enough to come talk to, and that means he's not good enough for me to support."
Fred Thompson dropped by to see the 300 people there, and Romney not only spent 35 minutes but also hosted an ice cream reception for party activists. "This was a huge issue with the Federation,'' Newby said.
Why did Fred Thompson speak less than five minutes to Florida Republican activists Saturday? Senior Thompson adviser Rich Galen told Buzz that before taking the stage Thompson asked how long the crowd had been in the room, and learned they'd already been there a long time. "He said then why don't we give them five minutes of pure, grass roots rah-rah and let them get to the bar."
Bad call, based on the bad Buzz that speech created for Thompson at Presidency IV. Pictured is the only table of a major campaign left unstaffed Sunday.
Buzz overheard Fred Thompson supporter state Rep. Seth McKeel bragging on the shuttle bus to the convention that House Speaker Marco Rubio was supposed to endorse Fred Thompson today. But when Buzz confronted McKeel later, McKeel said he didn't know for sure. He said he's talked to Rubio about Thompson several times, but said that Rubio has property taxes on the mind. He suggested Buzz had misunderstood. (Which is possible.)
Thompson spokesman Jeff Sadosky discounted such an endorsement, but added Thompson would love one.
Fred Thompson, who is planning another two-day swing through Florida Monday and Tuesday, courted activists at Presidecy IV, predicting the party would unite for the general election: "We will come together, united I hope under a good solid conservative banner that's been so good to us....and campaign on that message, not go into every group, this one and that one, to try to keep together a 51percent coalition, but to go out there with strong solid conservative values and conservative ideals for all right thinking people in both parties and independents alike and form a form a brand new kind of co alition."
Greetings from the Florida GOP's Presidency IV weekend , where the visibility game is in full swing. In terms of stickers, signs, t-shirts, we're naturally seeing loads of love for the best-funded candidates, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Rudy definitely has the advantage so far.
Southeast Florida is the deepest pool for Florida campaign cash, and Clinton raised $3.8-million from that area, compared to $1.45-
