In For a Penny, In For a Pound
By Jim Lynch on Dec 8, 2007 in 2008
I just saw this, although it was published yesterday. All In Fred Thompson moves to Iowa.
FORMER TENNESSEE SENATOR Fred Thompson has decided to take his campaign and virtually all of its resources to Iowa in an all-or-nothing attempt to register a strong showing in the caucuses here on January 3. “We’re getting ready to make this not only our second home, but our first home,” he told a small gathering of supporters at the Polk County Convention Center on Friday night. Thompson and his wife Jeri chatted with the crowd before making their way through the exhibits at the Iowa Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in downtown Des Moines.
It will take a strong showing by Fred Thompson in Iowa for him to have a chance at the nomination. With less than four weeks before the caucuses the question becomes is there enough time for this to have an impact?
“Iowa is critical to our campaign, and it may in fact be everything to our campaign,” says one Thompson official. “If we don’t do what we need to do in Iowa, it will be tough to compete effectively down the road.”
Thompson has said publicly that he needs to finish in the top three in Iowa. Campaign officials say that a strong third place finish–presumably behind new frontrunner Mike Huckabee and former frontrunner Mitt Romney–would likely give them enough momentum to survive New Hampshire and compete in South Carolina and beyond. A second place finish would be a victory. “Just when the interest is there the greatest,
is when we’ll be here the most.”
Current polling has him in third. I don’t think that will be good enough. Moving up to second is critical, but it’s going to be hard. Neither McCain nor Giuliani are expending much effort in Iowa.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. Any impact will have to be seen quickly in order for it to snowball into the kind of impact Thompson needs to see.
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