Gotta give Fred Thompson credit for running so far the most unorthodox NH primary campaign ever seen by a so-called serious candidate. Perhaps the wicked thunder storm that preceded Thompson’s stop in Stratham on Saturday was a foreshadowing of stormy days ahead -- or an omen of other-wordly campaign bliss.
Is Thompson, like the Newsweek cover story of last week said, “lazy like a fox” or just plain unsure of why he’s running for president? Announcing his candidacy to Jay Leno last week on national television while fellow GOP rivals for the crown were suffering at the GOP debate in Durham was a master stroke of something: indifference or genius. Perhaps Thompson, the Southern lawyer and former Senator from Tennessee, has tapped into a zeitgeist current that Republicans and Americans want a president who really doesn’t want to be president but has been pushed into the role. He doesn’t want to be bothered with debates (can’t blame him on that point) or being specific about most everything or even why he’s running. He’s a black slate of ambition and ideas.
But he does know box office numbers and his standing in the polls (too high to be believed except as a sign of dissatisfaction with the McCain/ Romney/Giuliani frontrunner trio) makes him an intriguing presence. He can muck things up for a lot of campaigns (it was no accident that a Romney minion -- and former George W. Bush hit man -- created an anti-Fred web site to dish the dirt) because maybe, just maybe, a lot of folks can close their eyes and imagine his laconic Hollywood character as a savior -- which is odd because unlike Ronald Reagan (often the lead actor in B movies), Thompson was strictly a character role guy.
But that could be his strength: he fits in with any crowd, including the inmates in the D.C. asylum. He’s scary natural, according to Salon’s Michael Scherer who spent a few days in Iowa to check out the Thompson charm and phenomenon. He files an interesting report about why Thompson is a potential serious candidate -- and why anti-Fred web sites may not be a passing fad.
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