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2007.05.30 Fred! Roundup (Sticky)
I'm hanging this at the top of the site for the day or until something  bigger comes along. Please scroll down for newer content.
See previous: 2007.05.25 Fred! Roundup
Below the fold:
- Fred Thompson will run, advisers say
- No July 4 Announcement For Fred Thompson
See also:
Testing the Waters
Fred Thompson, candidate-in-waiting.
by Stephen F. Hayes
FRED THOMPSON IS RUNNING for the Republican presidential nomination. In a conference call Monday, Thompson addressed a group of more than 100 supporters and fundraisers whom the campaign has dubbed First Day Founders. He told them that he would be setting up an organization that will allow him to begin raising money and recruiting staff.
In official campaign finance parlance, the move represents a shift from "giving serious consideration" to a presidential bid, as Thompson said he would do back in March, as a non-candidate, to a "testing the waters" period where one is, in effect, a candidate-in-waiting with a campaign-in-preparation. Thompson advisers point out that the new testing-the-waters entity is not quite a campaign committee, though it will officially begin accepting contributions on June 4. On that day -- the First Day, as it were--the campaign will take in donations that it can then tout as an impressive one-day haul. A corollary benefit will be that news reports about Thompson's non-entry entry will run on June 5, when the declared candidates will meet in New Hampshire for their third debate. (Thompson won't be required to disclose his donors and the amounts they give to the Federal Election Commission until September.)
No one thinks Thompson would have set up this entity if he had not decided to run, and there were apparently no serious qualifications or hesitations expressed on the conference call yesterday. The testing-the-waters committee allows Thompson to recruit and hire staff, which he intends to do. And he now has an entity that can collect campaign cash. For nearly four months, would-be Thompson supporters have been frozen in place, unable to contribute to Thompson even as they have been hounded by other campaigns. ...
Do read the whole thing.
I haven't made it any secret for quite a while now that I want to see Fred Thompson in the Oval Office. If it comes to that I'll vote against any Democrat who's likely to be nominated, even if that means I have to hold my nose and vote for McCain, but Fred's the only one in the race I'd feel good about voting for.
See also: Another sign of his intentions? Fred Thompson is raising money (H/T: Don Surber)
*** Update and bump. I'll hang this at the top of the site for the day unless something bigger comes along. Original timestamp 01:08
Fred Thompson will run, advisers say
By: Mike Allen
Fred Dalton Thompson is planning to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday, announcing that week that he has already raised several million dollars and is being backed by insiders from the past three Republican administrations, Thompson advisers told The Politico.
Thompson, the "Law and Order" star and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, has been publicly coy, even as people close to him have been furiously preparing for a late entry into the wide-open contest. But the advisers said Thompson dropped all pretenses on Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with more than 100 potential donors, each of whom was urged to raise about $50,000.
Thompson's formal announcement is planned for Nashville. Organizers say the red pickup truck that was a hallmark of Thompson's first Senate race will begin showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire as an emblem of what they consider his folksy, populist appeal.
A testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, and staffers will go on the payroll in early June, the organizers said. A policy team has been formed, but remains under wraps. ...
Allahpundit has comments and related links here.
No July 4 Announcement For Fred Thompson
Jim Geraghty
Just talked to a Thompson source I'll call "TA3" (Thompson Associate 3). Much more coming shortly, but the first word was, there will not be a presidential announcement from Fred Thompson on July 4.
(The Politico got it wrong, it appears.)
TA3: "There will be no July 4 announcement... There was some discussion of a June 4 beginning of fundraising; that's the date checks will be collected. I suspect that's where there was some confusion."
The forthcoming announcement will be that Thompson is "testing the waters." While Thompson is in that not-quite-announced-candidate stage, he will be able to complete previously commmitted paid appearances and speeches and continue work his work on ABC radio and filling in for Paul Harvey. He is not lining up additional paid speeches or appearances. ...
I've moved an item that was here to my 2007.05.31 roundup.
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