it's official. hubby and i will be heading north on the 2nd to work the final hours for fred's campaign. we believe strongly that of the cast of options out there, fred is the ONLY one fit to be potus.
fred is a consistent conservative - the only one in the field for the 2008 election and the only one any of us should be talking about. unfortunately the msm know it.
the msm has been working diligently to give a pass on fred since he entered the race - actually even before that. ever since gary hart was running mcgovern's campaign back in 1972, iowa is sort of the bellwether for who goes the distance in the presidential race. and despite the best efforts of some other states, this year is no different.
in an effort to lessen the impact of the iowa caucuses on the presidential race some states have moved their primaries closer to what used to be iowa's caucus day - only it's backfired. all that has happened is that iowa moved its caucus day to 3 january 2007 making it nearly impossible for a candidate who does poorly there to recover before the next primary/caucus.
as you may, or may not, know no candidate who has finished worse than third in the iowa caucuses has gone on to garner the party's nomination. that is a true statement regardless of the affiliation of the candidate - republican or democrat. and that makes it all the more important that we give fred the extra push that he so desperately needs RIGHT NOW!
some have said that fred is already an also ran, but with an estimated 40% of iowa voters not making their decision for whom they would vote until the last week before the caucus in 1996, i say GAME ON. today a new strategic vision poll gives fuel to that sentiment:
Below are the results of a three-day poll in the state of Iowa. Results are based on telephone interviews with 600 likely Republican caucus goers and 600 likely Democratic caucus goers, aged 18+, and conducted December 26-27, 2007. The margin of sampling error is ±4.5 percentage points for each party.
1. If the 2008 Republican presidential caucus were held today between Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson, for whom would you vote? (Republicans Only; Names Rotated)
Mike Huckabee 29%
Mitt Romney 27%
Fred Thompson 15%
John McCain 14%
Rudy Giuliani 4%
Ron Paul 4%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 6%2. Do you see President George W. Bush as a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan? (Republicans Only)
Yes 7%
No 72%
Undecided 21%3. How important is it for the Republican presidential candidate to be a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan, very important, somewhat important, not very important, not important, or undecided? (Republicans Only)
Very Important 56%
Somewhat Important 12%
Not Very Important 7%
Not Important 10%
Undecided 15%4. Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)
Yes 48%
No 40%
Undecided 12%
so far the lame stream media (to borrow a phrase from courtney) has done a pretty thorough job of ignoring and/or dissing mr. thompson and his campaign. and in some cases, where they've lacked in that effort, they've made up for it in flat-out denigrating him.
some are even saying that fox news, that fair and balanced bastion of the news, is blackballing fred because of his announcement being on jay leno rather than at the new hampshire "debate". smoothstone indicates that it may be bigger than that - he reminds us that a little more than two years ago prince alwaleed of saudi arabia purchased a 5.46% share of fox news.
right now the media is going all out to promote huckabee because - in my opinion - they want him to win in iowa and win the nomination. they KNOW that he will not win the election no matter who they put up and so he is the safest bet.
regardless, once fred finishes in the top three in iowa, the media will have to stop panning and poo-pooing him and give him his due. but don't look to them to be truthful or forthcoming until they are forced to.
getting back to our caucus trip north, i'm not sure what we'll be doing for the cause, but what ever we can do we will. i know the campaign still needs more bodies - heck, maybe even people to work the phones from wherever to call into iowa to spread the word.
i realize that my little blog doesn't reach very many people, but i believe that every person reached is a person who can cast a vote for fred. this is why we are doing what we are.
if any out there can help, please contact kristen fuzer (kfuzer@fred08.com) or chris burger (cburger@fred08.com) and see what they have for you to do. if you can't give any money for his campaign can you spare an hour or two to help out?
UPDATE 12/28/2007: final fred thompson blogburst and video from john hawkins here - well worth the looksee.
sending back love to my favorite angel at her friday article here.