Ready... Aim... Whatever
Fred Thompson still doesn't seem quite ready to pull the trigger on his campaign:
In his second week as an officially declared candidate for the Republican nomination, Mr. Thompson has made a languid three-day swing through Florida ending Saturday with the candidate watching a football game in Gainesville. The pace has kept him on a jumbo air-conditioned bus far more often than he is actually campaigning.
Since Thursday morning, when the tour began, Mr. Thompson has made no more than three campaign stops a day, with long stretches in between. In recent spins through Iowa, he kept a similarly relaxed schedule. Mitt Romney, by comparison, often does six town-hall-style forums a day when in Iowa.
A spokesman for Mr. Thompson said the driving distances in Florida were a factor, and that he would add more impromptu stops later in the campaign.
Next week, his schedule has no public events at all, limiting his appearances to fund-raisers in Florida, Tennessee and Texas.
When, at long last, Thompson announced his candidacy, I didn't think that was all he'd do.
I think Thompson is trying to prove that the campaigning game has changed - that personal appearances, stump speeches, pressing the flesh doesn't much matter anymore. 99% of voters make their decision based on information from news sources and TV appearances. Candidate appearances only work on the kind of people who go to candidate appearances.
I think he's right when it comes to the general election. I think he may be miscalculating the primaries, however. I think he's counting on primary voters deciding that he's the most electable Republican candidate, but most of them have settled loyalties already, which won't be swayed through electronic media the way that general election voters will be.