I stopped in at a Fred Thompson House Party organized by my friends at Virginians for Fred Thompson. Other than a party, which I’m always up for, there was a conference call. I took some notes. Randy, the political director talked about the "momentum to get to February 5th." That Read more…
They open with a question about Fred Thompson. Mike Huckabee makes a reference to "no show George". John McCain mentions that the debate might be up past Thompson’s bed time. He also also says that people in New Hampshire want face time. Rudy Giuliani: "He’s done a pretty good a Read more…
Mike Huckabee is holding another blogger conference call. This is my first. These are notes. I will have a seperate analysis post. First, notes from his opening statement: The last two weeks have been intense. "The straw poll has been phenomenal for us." "On a non-stop tour in terms of Read more…
C-SPAN’s coverage makes it clear that he brought lots and lots of kids to the straw poll. Sam Brownback starts with tying together families with terrorism. Huckabee did that in his own way. He really talks about abortion differently than the others. He talked about "reviving the economy." Republicans don’t Read more…
Mike Huckabee gets a nice intro from Laura Ingraham. Give America back to the people on Main Street. This is an important undercurrent to the language Sams Club Republican thing. Is that really what Huckabee is? Michael Vick joke was cute "I’m not the best funded candidate. I don’t have Read more…
For some good straw poll blogging, I recommend Marc Ambinder, The Fix, and Cyclone Conservative. Well, first Newt started by pandering to the anti-immigration forces. Wasn’t he an open borders guy back in the day? Wasn’t he a hero of guest worker programs? Mitt Romney started by confusing green beans Read more…
McCain calls the ethics bill a "sham and a joke". "It is just the same as it was before." "There are some good things it" but "it was an opportunity because of the dissatisfaction of the American people… and I’m sorry that we have failed. … it will further contribute Read more…
I missed the opening comments. Rob Bluey asks about last night’s Democratic debate. Barack Obama said he would meet with leaders of bad countries. McCain called that perspective "naive". When we sit down with the Iranians, what’s the first topic? Israel? Nuclear weapons? Or IEDs that they export to Iraq? Read more…
Getting in at the tail end of McCain’s opening. He sounds very, very tired. Jennifer Rubin asks about Sens. Lugar and Warner re-authorizing the war under different conditions. McCain says that once you authorize a war, you either win the war or lose it. Says we can still win. James Read more…
Update: My deepest apologies. I have had sporadic internet access and convention responsibilities. Here is the interview. Liz Mair and I interviewed Fred Thompson after his speech. The speech is coming up.