
Sunday, 06/10/07
Don't lay bets on Fred's red pickup of victory just yet
Will former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson be the savior of the Republican Party? Well, if I were you, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
"Republicans are desperate to find a candidate that fits the traditional mold of the party,'' David A. Bositis, senior political analyst with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, told me by phone recently. "I find it kind of questionable that he's (Thompson) going to be the Republican Party's savior.
"Somehow he's going to get in and make a difference? He has not raised a lot of money and, except for his movie career, he's best known for his support of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation while in the Senate. And, as chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, he oversaw the hearings on Bill Clinton's campaign contributions.
"But he was not a mover or shaker while in the Senate. In fact, he was pretty forgettable as a member of the Senate.''
I had called Bositis to get his thoughts about Thompson's expectant soon-to-be candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election. After all, Bositis has been at the Joint Center, a black think tank, for the past 17 years and usually has a pretty good take on what's going on in politics at the national level.
"It's the conservative base of the party that's looking for another candidate that would rival the top three Republicans now (former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney)," Bositis said. "But I don't think that's Thompson's background.
"He is sort of a Howard Baker protege. Baker comes from that old-style Republican background that wasn't so much for social conservatism as they were for balancing budgets. Not that fire-and-brimstone type.''
As for Thompson possibly campaigning for the presidency while driving around some in a red pickup truck as he did while running for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee in 1994, Bositis is not sure that will fly.
"The year 1994 was a great Republican year, but this year and 2008 is not going to be a good Republican year where you can come up with some gimmick with the war going on,'' Bositis told me. "Plus, any Republican candidate will have George Bush wrapped around their neck. That candidate is going to have to distinguish himself from the others and I don't think Thompson can do that.''
Sounds kind of bad for the ol' homeboy, Thompson, doesn't it?
Coincidentally, the day Bositis and I talked there was a USA Today story that talked about the 64-year-old Thompson spending two decades in Washington as a lawyer-lobbyist, representing "such entities as Westinghouse, the deposed government of Haiti, the Teamsters Union pension fund and the Tennessee Savings and Loan Association.''
The article went on to say that some analysts believe Thompson may find his lobbying role more of a burden under the microscope in a presidential election.
"He's never been in the national spotlight before,'' Bositis said. "If he decides to run, that national spotlight will be on him like it's never been on him before. And, because the other candidates have been in the race longer, they've already had some of that spotlight on them. His life will get picked over a lot.''
What it really boils down to is that the conservative base of the Republican Party is looking for a candidate without any flaws, Bositis said. He said Giuliani, who leads most polls when it comes to the Republicans, is pro-choice and conservatives don't like that about him. In addition, he's also in favor of gun control.
"McCain is as old as Methuselah and how many Southern Baptists will vote for a Mormon (Romney)?"
I wonder how many of you think David Bositis is wrong about Fred Thompson, or can he rise to the top and become the Republican Party's savior?
Only time will tell, but be careful when you come to betting the farm on it.
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