Why Did Fred Thompson Wait So Long?

National Review Online: Maybe Because He'll Announce His Veep When He Announces His Candidacy

(National Review Online) 
For Republican primary voters who are already saturated with information about, and bored by, the current slate candidates - get used to it. There are still four more months to go before the first votes are cast. Then, following the lightning quick primary schedule, there will be another seven months, from February until the convention in September, in which the vice presidential choice would traditionally be held in abeyance. The early selection of interesting and inspiring running mates could do much to liven up the playing field. That’s no small thing for a party that faces a significant motivation gap with the Democrats.

The candidates would also benefit. The frontrunners are taking great pains to prove their conservative credentials. Given their records, however, there’s only so much they can do. Giuliani calls for strict constructionist judges to help overcome his socially liberal positions. Romney’s path to a strongly conservative platform is so muddled by his previous positions that he leaves voters wondering who the real Mitt is. Thompson will undoubtedly take steps to gloss over his strong support for McCain-Feingold and his embrace by trial lawyers. Announcing their running mate before the primaries begin would give any of them the best possible opportunity to convey how they would govern.

The candidates could also use their pick to change the primary election map, just as Reagan attempted to do in 1976. Southerner Fred Thompson, for example, is polling quite well in South Carolina, but not so well in Iowa or New Hampshire. His late entry and under-funded campaign might never get off the ground in those critical, first two states. But he could deal himself into the game by making known his veep selection. New Hampshire senator Judd Gregg might want to make sure that his former colleague has his cell number. Choosing Gregg as his running mate would propel Thompson into contention in New Hampshire like nothing else he could do, and it would fundamentally alter the electoral calculations of every other candidate.

Mostly, the conservative movement would benefit from early selections. In the cadence of presidential politics, the time leading up to the Republican primaries is when conservatives’ leverage is at its highest point. Once the February 5 primaries are over, and a nominee is effectively chosen, that leverage diminishes greatly.

Let’s say, for example, that on the morning of February 6, it’s apparent that the Democrats have chosen Hillary Clinton, and the Republicans have picked Mitt Romney. Romney would then be under pressure to counter Hillary’s gender appeal, and to make amends to the national media for his move to the right to win the nomination. What’s to stop Romney from choosing former New Jersey governor Christie Whitman or a similar electorally appealing liberal Republican for vice president? Of course, if he chose his running mate anytime before February 6, there’s not a chance in the world that he would pick Whitman.

Among the candidates, Giuliani probably has the most to gain by an early selection. Unique among the GOP field, he runs a risk of fueling a conservative third-party opponent in the general election based on the pro-life issue. Those who would promote such a candidacy would likely be undeterred by the fact that it would virtually ensure the election of a Democrat. However, they might well be deterred by the selection of a solidly pro-life running mate, who then becomes next in line for the presidency in four or eight years. Of course, Giuliani could make that move in the traditional convention period. If he were to wait the full seven months between securing the nomination and the convention, however, he might be too late to head off a third-party candidacy; at the least he would be forced to endure a media spectacle on this question, such that it would look like a cave-in should he then make a pro-life selection. He’s better off putting the issue aside early, and in so doing enhancing his prospects in the primaries themselves.

There are dangers with an early selection, to be sure. When Reagan chose an ideological mismatch - a Ford supporter and a man whom he barely knew - he temporarily alienated some of his core supporters on the Right. The early choice of a running mate would obviously bother those voters who don’t care about the signal the choice is meant to send. There’s also the media scrutiny that the running mate would undergo, which could turn up controversies in his or her record that would threaten to engulf the presidential candidate. And there’s the awkwardness of a two-person ticket running against lone candidates in the primaries. (There’s a good chance, though, that if one of the leading candidates chose early, the others would not long resist the pressure to do likewise.)

Disappointed with the performance of his successor in the White House, it has been reported that President Reagan ultimately regretted choosing George H. W. Bush as his running mate. In retrospect, the conservative movement can trace numerous policy and political setbacks over many years to that fateful decision. The vice presidency might well be an inconsequential office in itself. But its ripple effects have the potential to transform American government for years to come. This time around, conservatives ought to be paying very close attention to the vice presidency, and they ought to be asking the presidential frontrunners about it now.

[jerr11]

Fred embodies Republican family values:

Wait till your wife is old and wrinkled, then dump her and marry someone 24 years younger!

That''s what I call a warm and cuddly strategy!

[jerr11]

Why Did Fred Thompson Wait So Long?


Because he was waiting for his second wife to come of age.

Fred, you old goat, you!

[brianbwb-2009]

National Review Online: Maybe Because He''ll Announce His Veep When He Announces His Candidacy

International Brian Online: Or Maybe Because He''s Just Another Greedy ****** Seeing A Chance To Put All Four Feet Into The Trough.

[tibu987]

Please, no more actors in political office as politics is already a really bad show.

[frb01]

In reality, the media is going to force him to make a VP selection early because the media will immediately bring up Jackie Kennedy and Paul Tsongas who both died from similar cancer. Frankly I would like the candidates to put a few names out there now on who they would consider as a VP. Also they should name members of their cabinet early. Obama is right look at where we got due to Cheney and Rumsfelds decisions, with all the experience they had.

[meisemann]

"What''''s so great about Thompson?

Why would anyone vote for him? Other than the lesser of [fill in number here] evils theory."

Well...we certainly don''t want Hillary to win do we with her socialistic healthcare?

[meisemann]

He might just be using a tactic of people getting tired of hearing about all the other candidates. After all, does a campaign really need to last for over a year...I don''t think so.

[walt1944-2009]

It has been learned that Fred Thompson will announce his candidacy for the Neocon nomination for President/Emperor and that he will have already chosen his running mate: ALBERTO GONZALEZ!!! Aside from appealing to Hispanic voters (those unable to read English, anyway!), Thompson has decided that the Great Gonzo would be an excellent choice for vice president/vice emperor since Thompson feels, like most of the candidates do, that they want a man who is a "stupid dope" to be in the No. 2 slot, instead of a plotter/thinker/conniver from the "Dark Side" like VP "Darth" Cheney. Another reason is because of Gonzo''s absolutely brilliant performances before Congress in which he demonstrated to everyone that he is incapable of plotting anything, conniving his way out of a paper bag, or thinking about anything that could be in any way, shape or form, of use to anyone in the new USSA!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[mcvet]

I wonder if Thompson is a Wide Stance Neo Con or if he''s a Toe Tappin member of the Religious Reich? Is he a peeker or one of Rev Ted''s Boy''s? In other words you have to wonder just how big a Hypocrit this joker really is... can he sell the small minded and the stupid that Snake Oil like Senator Craig did? Sieg Heil and Amen.

[imnho]

I don''t know why he has delayed the announcement. The problem I see is that he is in the position of trying to re-arange the deck chairs on the titanic. If the Iraq war is still in full swing come election time then the democratics will be able to run the water boy and beat them. This could shape up to be a blowout of epic proportions

[keithle1]

What''s so great about Thompson?

Why would anyone vote for him? Other than the lesser of [fill in number here] evils theory.

If Dems can''t win White House in 2008, when will they?

[jsilver2th]

If Thompson does anything like this it will sink his boat- Strong tickets- meaning when the VP selection has a major or at least some impact, can be built by including a former rival like JFK-LBJ or even Kerry-Edwards, Nixon-Lodge made a good tickets even though they lost. It would show that Thompson was ready to foreclose important options prematurely before the cards has been dealt and expand potential liabilities (ala Eagleton). Not exactly presidential class. Nobody serious ever runs for VP until the convention anyway- they would look like a joke- It didn''t do Reagan any good and looked like what it was- not brilliant but a pretty lame ploy-