Jim Geraghty posts the Thompson defense of their "disappointing" fundraising numbers. I, frankly, don’t know what to make of all of this, but I have two thoughts.
First, people are comparing John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani’s fundraising numbers to Fred Thompson’s. Simply, these are apples and oranges. McCain and Romney had been running for President for several years. Romney ran for his RGA position in 2004 and starting building his national fundraising network soon after. And Giuliani had started his political operation at least a year beforehand, collecting business cards and favors as he campaigned for candidates all over the country. Compare that to Thompson. I first heard his name circulated at CPAC, when it seemed laughable. Three months after that, he raises more money in one month than the total amount raised by any one 2nd tier candidate. Starting from scratch.
That said, it illustrates a trap that the Thompson campaign has set for itself. No plausible number was high enough to meet the expectations. And that’s going to be part of the problem for him. He will never be as conservative as the hopes and dreams of his followers. He will never be as articulate as Reagan. He will never (or at least not for a while) have the fundraising apparatus of someone who has been running for President for 3-4 years. Etc. Etc. Etc.
People might cut him some slack if his followers didn’t present him as the savior…
2 Comments
sampo · July 31, 2007 at 8:42 AM
How many more metrics do there need to be to show that the GOP faces a TOUGH election year?
george stephanopoulos told mccain point blank on ‘this week’ that thompson was working for mccain’s campaign. is there any possibility that thompson will not announce for President, but will instead try to run as mccain’s VP? i’ve always thought the two were the closest thing to ideological soul mates. this would reinforce mccain’s already conservative credentials.
eye · July 31, 2007 at 8:50 AM
I haven’t heard that theory recently, but that was conventional wisdom when Thompson’s name started to circulate.
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