GOP Nominee
Former Candidates
From the Fred Team:
Washington, D.C.-Former Reagan White House political aide Bill Lacy today was named manager of Fred Thompson’s testing the waters committee.”Bill Lacy worked in the campaigns of President Reagan, President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole from 1980-1996,” Thompson said. “He turned around my campaign for Senate in 1994 and, as I move toward a decision on whether to run for President, I am confident he will take our operations to the next level.”
Lacy will have full operational control of the Friends of Fred Thompson committee and will report directly to Thompson.
“It is an honor to be working with Fred again,” said Lacy, who is taking a leave of absence as Director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. “My immediate goal is to provide stable, hands-on leadership and to retool the Thompson operation to implement a non-traditional, message-driven effort.”
Lacy was a GOP campaign professional in Washington from 1977-1996. He ran Ronald Reagan’s 1980 Maryland primary campaign, and served as Deputy Director of the National Republican Congressional Committee in 1981-82 before joining the White House staff as Deputy Director of Political Affairs. During Reagan’s reelection campaign in 1984 he was Political Director of the Republican National Committee and afterwards rejoined the White House as Director of the Office of Political Affairs.
Lacy held a senior role in Sen. Bob Dole’s 1988 campaign and served as Deputy National Chairman and strategist in Dole’s 1996 primary campaign. Lacy served as Thompson’s strategist and management consultant in his 1994 campaign until Thompson, down 20 points in the polls and written off by most of the pundits, persuaded Lacy to move to Nashville and take over day-to-day management of the campaign.
In 1996 Lacy assumed a senior management role in a privately held family business and in September 2004 was selected to be the Director of the Dole Institute of Politics.
“Every day at the Dole Institute I told students and others how important it is to get involved in politics, to take a greater interest in the affairs of our country,” Lacy said. “This is a tremendous opportunity to serve, an obligation in my view; I am honored that Fred Thompson has given me this chance.”
August 8th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
It is over.
August 8th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
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August 8th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Hopefully, Fred will at least be able to drop out in a timely fashion.
August 8th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
LOL. With SC moving up to 1/19, Thompson has just about sealed the deal. Romney is finished. Rudy is in big trouble now.
Fred will win SC. He’ll get huge moemntum and if he wins FL, it’s all over.
August 8th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Nope. Sorry, your wrong. Firstly, I think SC is going to the 15th, not the 19th. And, Actually, it hurts Thompson, because his strongest support is in the South. Now, rather than Thompson winning the last state before Super Tuesday, he is winning a state stuck in the middle of a pack of Romney wins. Romney is expected to win Iowa and New Hampshire, and can win Nevada and Wyoming. Florida has to share headlines with Michigan, so it is not as big as it would be.
Now, believe it or not, Super Tuesday could all hinge on who wins Maine - the last early primary. Of Course, we need to see which other states move up. Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Florida may all consider a new date now.
August 8th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Alright, so it is the 19th - the same day as NV, my mistake. However, that doesn’t improve things for Thompson. If Romney wins Nevada, that means he’ll have 3 of the four states on or before the 19th. He’ll have 2x the delegate votes of Thompson, and Thompson will be played as a “local favorite” in South Carolina.
August 8th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
We’ve had this conversation several times ACT and I still just don’t see your logic in
saying FL is not going to be as big as it would be. Again saying a clear MI win by whomever
trumps Florida’s news is silly. We are a bigger state with more delegates than IA NH SC and
possibly MI put together. FL puts a major dent in the plans of both Thompson and Romney since
we are Rudy country. Romney wants to win all the sates before Super Tuesday and Thompson wants
the South to himself, but since Rudy is going to win the majority of our 114 delegates it will
cause headaches for Thompson and Romney. Plus winning a little over half of our delegates is just
as many as Romney’ll win discounting MI (which is competative)
And Jim the voters of FL could care less what happens in South Carolina and a candidate like
Fred just can’t win a state with as many diverse groups as we have done hear. Them’s the facts
August 8th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
It does not “trump” Florida, which does have more delegates, but it means that the headlines will be split between Romney and Rudy. In addition, Michigan is a potential pick-up, as are a couple other GL states.
ALSO, consider this: If Romney wins all of the early states except SC and FL, it does not do much damage to him. Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Nevada will give him more delegates than Florida. That leads to a few potential headlines:
“Romney, Giuliani, make gains in Primaries”
“Romney wins Michigan, Giuliani takes Florida” (flip if you want)
“Giuliani wins in Florida, still trails Romney in Delegates”
Yes, Rudy is going to get positive press, but he is going to have to share it with Romney, who is going to look better at that point in the game.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I love the Thompson supporters who are so confident in him even though he has not showed anybody anything yet. He is not even in. lest wait to see how he handles the heat before we start making conclusions that it is all over.
whether romney holds the lead in ia and nh or not, people should not discount their importance, even despite many states moving up their dates. I still think it is a gross mistake to say that you can win the nomination without winning or coming very close to winning in those two states.
mitt is sitting very good leading in ia, nh, mi, and nv. south carolina is not looking good and neither is florida. but a lot can change very quickly depending on ia and nh.
fred is not electable in my opinion. he is too much like bush in too many ways. t his is usually good for a candidate, but not this year. also competence and managemetn experience are going to be big this year, none of which fred really has much to compare against the likes of guliani and romney.
i think thompson missed his train. i don’t discount him, but if he would have jumped in and gotten going earlier, he may have possibly been able to knock mitt out. then again, i can’t underestimate mitt given his ability to overcome challenges.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Alright then, if Thompson drops out, or takes a hit once he runs, does Romney take all the early states? After all, combined Romney and Thompson numbers easily beat every other candidate in most states.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
ACT,
combined Thompson and Rudy #s crush Romney so what’s your point?
If Thompson drops out, I suspect Rudy and McCain get the most benefit
August 8th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I also find it funny that Mitt supporters say Thompson isn’t electable.
He polls 2nd/3rd vs Hillary with Mitt a consistent and distant 5th.
Just today Quninnipiac came out with polls in the 3 key states of FL, OH and PA. Whoever wins 2 of those wins the election.
Hillary was tied with Rudy in OH and beating him by 1 and 2 in FL and PA.
She beat Thompson by double digits in all of the states.
Since Romney wasn’t even included I suspect his numbers were as bad as if not worse than Thompson’s.
If polls consistently show Romney losing by double digits to Hillary, nationally and in key states, while Rudy and Fred are much more competitive, that’s going to hurt him.
August 8th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Jim, Romney is much closer to Thompson ideologically than Rudy is. If, for some reason, Thompson were to get out of the race, I think Romney would be the primary winner.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Jim, I think the National Polls will take on more significance in late November and December as we approach the eve of the primaries and all of the candidates have been vetted by the electorate and the media. IMHO, general electability, this early, really can only be determined by what we “pundits” believe the country will more favorably accept on positions, experience and likeability once the candidates are close to being equally known. Polls right now are only good for trend observations. If a candidate is steady or rising that is good, however if a candidate is tanking that is bad (read McCain). I think in the end Rudy or Mitt will have a good shot in the general.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Has this guy really been out of politics for 11 years?
August 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am
It is terrible in that I cannot do copy and paste on this mobile device. But note above in the article about Lacy retooling the team. Be on a lookout for the let go of a staff by name of Jeri! And what is it with non-traditional mentality of Fredheads? It was quoted here again that Fred is going somewhere by being non-traditional. Even Democrat Candidates who have raised over 100 millions combined barely get a few millions from the online donation. Why would Fred think he will do better with online donation than the top candidates? I really do think he is going somewhere by being silent and inaccessible!
August 9th, 2007 at 9:42 am
It is terrible in that I cannot do copy and paste on this mobile device. But note above in the article about Lacy retooling the team. Be on a lookout for the let go of a staff whose name is Jeri! And what is it with non-traditional mentality of Fredheads? It was quoted here again that Fred is going somewhere by being non-traditional. Even Democrat Candidates who have raised over 100 millions combined barely get a few millions from the online donation. Why would Fred think he will do better with online donation than the top candidates? I really do think he is going somewhere by being silent and inaccessible!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:56 am
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