Fred Thompson’s laziness is hurting him in Florida, reports the New York Sun’s Ryan Sager:

According to a number of Jacksonville-area Republican donors I’ve spoken to in recent days, the former Tennessee senator’s unimpressive early organization and late entry into the presidential race have led to a group of power players signing up with Mr. Thompson’s chief rival for the social-conservative vote: the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Yesterday, Mr. Romney’s campaign announced the support of a former ambassador to Bermuda and major Bush donor, John Rood, as well as the mayor of Jacksonville, John Peyton. It also announced nine new members of its state finance team, all from the city.

Mr. Rood, who attained “Ranger” status in 2004 by raising more than $200,000 for President Bush’s re-election campaign, is part of a group of about 20 Jacksonville-area Bush (that’s president and governor) donors and political supporters who have grown accustomed to working as a team. However, with both Bush brothers staying on the sidelines in this primary race — and everyone I’ve talked to insists there’s been neither a nod nor a wink from either — the group has failed to coalesce around any one candidate. This may be the first step in that direction.

Sager’s sources may insist that the Bushes have stayed out of the race, but as early as February there were reports that Jeb Bush was “privately is talking up the candidacy of Mitt Romney and steering some of his closest advisers to the campaign.” Whether those reports were accurate or not, it does seem that Thompson may be missing his chance to win the favor of the Jacksonville Republican establishment. As Sager points out, this represents a critical blown opportunity for Thompson: South Florida is Giuliani territory, but the northern part of the state should be the former Tennessee Senator’s power base.

What has to be particularly galling to Thompson supporters is how he has been blowing this opportunity. For one thing, his late start has turned off potential Jacksonville supporters. And then there’s his inexcusable political sloppiness:

Mr. Rood also cited the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the Thompson organization at a meeting the Jacksonville group held in July, where representatives of the various campaigns came in and pled their cases. While Messrs. Romney, Giuliani, and McCain all sent staff members to give detailed presentations in person that “were all very impressive,” according to Mr. Rood, Mr. Thompson had a consultant call in and relay some generalities about the “Law & Order” actor’s strength in national polling. That decision, according to all accounts, was received quite poorly by the group.

Fred Thompson: underachiever of the year?

Posted by Paul Curtis
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 11:23 am

3 Responses to “Thompson’s Florida Fiasco”

Something to say?

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website