Fred Thompson's Lazy Day In Iowa

Politico: Abbreviated Trip Through Small Town Casts Doubt On GOP Hopeful's Drive

(Politico)  This story was written by Roger Simon.

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When is retail politics not retail politics? When candidates refuse to get off their big buses and go do it.

Fred Thompson rolled into this small town on the Cedar River in north-central Iowa on a giant brown bus Tuesday. He also had a van, an entourage of guys with earpieces and a press aide.

Thompson’s public schedule said: “Fred Thompson Tours Downtown Waverly and Drops by Waverly Democrat.”

It was not a bitterly cold day - temperatures were somewhere in the high 30s - and doing a downtown walk would have been a perfectly normal political event.

Such walks are staples of retail politics, the kind of politics conducted in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where people expect to meet the candidates one on one and not just at rallies and speeches.

The Waverly Democrat, a semi-weekly newspaper, is located right on the main street in town, which is called Bremer Avenue. (Waverly is the county seat of Bremer County.)

Waverly has a population of about 9,000, and while Bremer Avenue was not exactly thronged this day, people were in the shops, and potential voters were definitely out and about doing shopping or sitting in the diners.

Mark Halperin of Time magazine and I drove up to Waverly to catch the Thompson walkabout, and since we got there early, we popped into the offices of the Waverly Democrat.

Anelia Dimitrova, the executive regional editor, greeted us in warmly and invited us to have a seat, chat and use the bathroom. She offered Mark a high-speed Internet line so he could upload some video to his website and I sat down with her for a brief interview.

She said Thompson was the first candidate to come into the paper. The paper does not endorse candidates, and maybe that is why the others have skipped it. “He’s got a lot of catching up to do,” Dimitrova said. “I think it’s a sign he is behind. I don’t think he necessarily wants to run. Bluntly, I don’t know why he is running.”

This is the question that has dogged the Thompson campaign from the beginning. While sometimes he displays bursts of energy at a speech here or there, he is often described as “laconic” on the road.

Thompson, his entourage and his wife, Jeri, arrived at the newspaper and after exchanging a few pleasantries, Thompson headed in to his meeting with Dimitrova in a conference room.

Dimitrova invited Mark and me into the interview with Thompson but the Thompson press aide refused. Dimitrova said she had no problem with us being there, but the press aide refused again.

It was no big deal. We waited for Thompson outside the conference room and after a few minutes he emerged, left the newspaper office and headed straight onto his large, brown bus.

But what happened to the “tour of downtown Waverly” that was on his schedule?

Canceled. Not going to happen. He was not going to walk the streets of Waverly in search of voters.

Instead, Thompson rode four blocks to the local fire station. Local fire stations always have captive audiences (unless there is a fire).

Inside, Thompson shook a few hands - there were only about 15 people there - and then Chief Dan McKenzie handed Thompson the chief’s fire hat so Thompson could put it on.

Thompson looked at it with a sour expression on his face.

“I’ve got a silly hat rule,” Thompson said.

In point of fact, the “silly” hat was the one Chief McKenzie wore to fires and I am guessing none of the firefighters in attendance considered it particularly silly, but Thompson was not going to put it on. He just stood there holding it and staring at it.

To save the moment, Jeri Thompson took the hat from her husband’s hands and put it on her head.

“You look cute,” Thompson said to her. She did.

Jeri took off the hat and McKenzie led the Thompsons over to a fire truck.

The chief invited Thompson to climb up behind the wheel, but Thompson said, “Naw, this is fine.” And he stood there looking at the fire truck.

Jeri once again saved the moment by engaging the chief in some actual conversation.

“How many people do you serve?” she asked.

“About 10,000,” Chief McKenzie said.

Thompson walked away from the fire truck, posed for a picture or two and the event was over. He and his entourage got on his bus and roared out of town.

Later, his press aide sent Mark and me an e-mail of explanation, though we had not asked for one.

Thompson had skipped going up and down Bremer Avenue after the newspaper meeting because, the press aide explained, “We can’t control where the newspapers are. Had it been a more ‘main-street’ type town, it would have been different.”

But Waverly is a “main-street” type town, and the newspaper office was right there on the main street of town surrounded by businesses.

The press aide also claimed that “ice and snow on the streets presented a safety issue,” but Halperin and I had no problem walking on the mostly well-shoveled avenue, both before Thompson arrived and after he left. (In fact, we went into a local store on Bremer Avenue, where there were a number of shoppers Thompson easily could have greeted.)

Later in the day, I sent an e-mail to Anelia Dimitrova, asking her about the private meeting she had with Thompson at the newspaper office.

She e-mailed me back that Thompson “was so vague that I would be hard-pressed to write a story. Simply put, there is no news peg other than he came to the newsroom with his model wife and a beehive of staffers. When I asked him specifically what he would do as prez for farmers in Bremer County, he resorted to glittering generalities.”

So the sum total of Thompson’s day in Waverly was meeting with a newspaper editor and saying nothing and then meeting about 15 people in a warm firehouse and saying nothing.

When he was supposed to go out and find voters in shops and diners, talk to them and answer their questions, he decided to skip it and get back on his luxury bus instead.

That’s not retail politics. That’s not Iowa. And that’s not laconic. That’s lazy.

[alansrout]

FRED THOMPSON is the best person to lead this country. He is a true conservative and has been his entire life. All one has to do is check his record to see this.

During my time in the Army as an Intelligence Analyst, I served under both Presidents Carter and Reagan (as my commanders in chief). Without argument, President Reagan was the best commander-in-chief a military person could ever have served under. Fred Thompson possesses the same qualities and vision as President Reagan in that he is strong on national defense and sees a dire need to secure our borders and control immigration.

I can think of no better person to lead this country and fix the problems we have. He is the only candidate from either party who has specific and detailed plans on border security and immigration reform; revitalization of America''s armed forces; saving and protecting Social Security; and tax relief and economic growth. These are detailed on his Web site at www.fred08.com. I challenge you to find any other candidate who has laid out specific plans to fix anything.

I ask that you take a hard look at what this country needs, then take a hard look at all the other candidates'' views, policies, their records and their track record on consistency. Fred Thompson possesses integrity, loyalty, commitment, energy and decisiveness, all traits of an effective leader, and will emerge as the best person to take this country boldly forward.

[alansrout]

FRED THOMPSON is the best person to lead this country. He is a true conservative and has been his entire life. All one has to do is check his record to see this.

During my time in the Army as an Intelligence Analyst, I served under both Presidents Carter and Reagan (as my commanders in chief). Without argument, President Reagan was the best commander-in-chief a military person could ever have served under. Fred Thompson possesses the same qualities and vision as President Reagan in that he is strong on national defense and sees a dire need to secure our borders and control immigration.

I can think of no better person to lead this country and fix the problems we have. He is the only candidate from either party who has specific and detailed plans on border security and immigration reform; revitalization of America''s armed forces; saving and protecting Social Security; and tax relief and economic growth. These are detailed on his Web site at www.fred08.com. I challenge you to find any other candidate who has laid out specific plans to fix anything.

[Con Mohrat]

This "actor" who mumbles a few unintelligle words for a few seconds in "Law and Order" is already a p-poor actor. He cannot win. Even his Senate buddy Tancredo passed his endorsement to Romney, the flip flopper.

This fellow would be another Bush, complete with golf and fishing in the middle of self-created crises

[mediapreachr]

''He really would be a good replacement for Reagan. He makes a speach then takes a nap...makes another speech then takes another nap....

Posted by micma at 02:23 PM : Dec 20, 2007''
I''ll give him one more month.That''s it.

[allan_59]

Next time you write a rant against someone you don''t agree with, don''t let them put the video of teh event on the same page! Anyone that looks at the video and reads you article can see what''s going on.

[mpbski]

Fred is sad. There is no chance he''s going anywhere, and he probably knows it. He''s not up to the job. Hurray for his wife though; saving the day in awkward situations. It must be a nightmare for her to see her husband in over his head. As a Dem maybe I should root for''im; Hillary would dismantle him.

[sgtrds]

And in his office....and his regular bedroom....and on the couch....and in the hamock...and on Air Force One...and during meetings.....etc.....etc.....etc.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[sgtrds]

Is he awake enough to even realise he''s running for office? Every time I''ve seen him he looks half awake and half asleep. If he gets elected there''ll never be a scandal as to who is sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom, because it''ll be him.

[frb01]

I really think that he figured he would get in and fill the vacuum on the far right to get the nomination. Guiliani has held the lead longer than expected, Romney has stayed the same, McCain has picked up and Huckabee has bolted to the front. Some said Fred would be out by December, he may be the next one out in January. I don''t know why he is running.

[mtapie]

Is this really the most substantive criticism of Thompson you can formulate?--that he won''t wear a fireman hat? The logic behind the article''s argument is pretty weak: Thompson won''t wear a hat or walk down a certain street in one town he visited during one day of a campaign swing. Therefore, he is lazy and lacks "drive". Wow. Please keep trying. It is so entertaining to watch the Beltway pundits try so hard to make the ''lazy'' label stick to him.

[allan_59]

Just take the word NEWS off your name - stick with CBS,SayBS. Does CBS really pay people to to produce stuff like this? Blows my mind!
By the way - Fred was drafted by popular demand 3 months ago. The other candidates have been working on getting their campaign together for years! Show me someone else who is willing to step up to a job this size. If you find someone, ask him if he is lazy.

[realpatriot1]

If anyone can take more vacations as President than Bush it''s this man.

[pakaal]

jammer2000 wrote: "Fred and his group probably recognized there wasn''''t going to be the impact they had hoped for in this town, made a few quick appearences, then headed off to the next item on their list."

Hey, you forgot "Diss the fire chief"! Nothing like dissing a fire chief to really get the voters motivated....

[micma-2009]

He really would be a good replacement for Reagan. He makes a speach then takes a nap...makes another speech then takes another nap....

[jammer2000]

So in other words, this reporter who probably doesn''t like following Fred around anyway, was somewhat snubbed by the candidate and his group, not allowed in an interview with a newpaper, and had a generally boring, uneventful time.

So to actually write a story his editor would put on the website, he took the slant of "Fred the Lazy".

Fred and his group probably recognized there wasn''t going to be the impact they had hoped for in this town, made a few quick appearences, then headed off to the next item on their list.

[mtapie]

Is this really the most substantive criticism of Thompson you can formulate?--that he won''t wear a fireman hat? The logic behind the article''s argument is pretty weak: Thompson won''t wear a hat or walk down a certain street in one town he visited during one day of a campaign swing. Therefore, he is lazy and lacks "drive". Wow. Please keep trying. It is so entertaining to watch the Beltway pundits try so hard to make the ''lazy'' label stick to him.

[gunshack1]

Lazy? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is most likely a duck.

[mtapie]

Is this really the most substantive criticism of Thompson you can formulate?--that he won''t wear a fireman hat? The logic behind the article''s argument is pretty weak: Thompson won''t wear a hat or walk down a certain street in one town he visited during one day of a campaign swing. Therefore, he is lazy and lacks "drive". Wow. Please keep trying. It is so entertaining to watch the Beltway pundits try so hard to make the ''lazy'' label stick to him.

[terrapin78]

Running? More like crawling or staggering.