Will Fred Thompson '08 be the Repu version of Wes Clark '04?

[Tejanocrat]

I hear talk of the "draft movement" pulling at the candidate's heart.

I hear talk about how the current field of candidates lacks a candidate who comes from "outside the beltway" and who will appeal to Southern voters who are turning their noses up at the front-running candidates from Massachusetts and the Mid-West and the East Coast.

I hear talk of the candidate raising money fast to make up for his late start.

I hear talk of how the candidate won't be hurt by the late entry because the voters haven't really been paying attention yet anyway.

I hear talk about the candidate's strategy of skipping the Iowa straw poll.



And it all sounds so familiar . . .

[Taverner]

1. Wes Clark just never picked up momentum did he?

[Tejanocrat]

3. In Oklahoma's primary, Clark got 1,000 more votes than Edwards and 9,000 more than Kerry

Otherwise, Clark didn't exactly catch fire.

I also think that Fred Thompson will likely win the Oklahoma Republican primary but little else . . .

[BootinUp]

6. In December 03 and January '04

Clark was polling second to Dean and closing. It was only the skipping of the Iowa primary and the resulting media coverage focusing completely away from him that ended it.

[BootinUp]

2. I think I take offense. Couldn't you split that into two

sentences or something? :puke:

Clark is a General who joined the Democratic party, not your typical allies, and he did amazingly well in spite of it. He is so far above FT in terms of any positive human traits I can think of that a comparison seems insulting.

If we are talking about buzz and limiting it to that, then sure I think Thompson may be the buzz this year on Repuke side. Lets see if he can make any progress with it.

[Tejanocrat]

5. Clark is a great man. Fred is a mediocre actor. The comparison is based on the campaigns' postures

(both candidates are the "great Southern hope" who enter the race after the debates have already begun and there is some perception in the MSM that the "party faithful are dissatisfied" with the field of candidates).

And the point of the comparison is to suggest that it's pretty easy to over-estimate what a huge handicap a candidate suffers by getting into the race after much of the "a team" political grassroots activists have already signed onto another candidacy.

If Clark - a great man - couldn't overcome the disadvantage of his late entry into the race, Fred - an actor from the movie "Curly Sue" - can't hope to overcome his late start disadvantage. I just hope he burs a lot of Repu cash in the process of making Romney work a little harder to steal the nomination.

[BootinUp]

7. thats a fair comparison and I agree with it. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

4. Clark was much more the outsider

Lots of people within the party wouldn't even accept the fact that he was a Democrat. Thompson will have an easier go of it from the Republican Establishment as a result.

[Adelante]

8. It certainly sounds familiar to me

It's the latest political meme going viral this very day ... Fred Thompson is this year's Wesley Clark.

Of course, Fred Thompson has more experience in electoral politics than Clark had in 2004. But then again, Clark ran against an entire field with far more experience in electoral politics than he had his first time out.

He didn't do badly at all, so maybe there is hope for Fred Thompson.

[NCarolinawoman]

9. The corporate media loves Fred Thompson right now.

If he advocated for the break-up of the corporate media complex, as Wes Clark did back in '04, the corporate media would dump on old Fred as well.

Oh, I don't think for a minute that old Fred will go for trust-busting, He will continue to enjoy his honeymoon.

[Czolgosz]

10. I think Fred Thompson has an excellent chance of pulling of an upset in

the Oklahoma primary.

[Sparkly]

11. Did somebody send a blast-fax around with this meme?

:shrug:

[Adelante]

15. Uh, yeah

And isn't it sweet of Tejanocrat to bring it to DU? You know, Sparkly, in case anybody might have missed it. :)

[Tejanocrat]

21. This is about disadvantages Fred will face because he entered the race late; not about noncandidate

Clark.

In fact, my point is that if a great candidate like Clark couldn't overcome the disadvantages of a late start in '04, what chance does a half-assed late starter like Fred stand?

[Clark2008]

12. Nope.

Real people actually wanted Clark to run; Thompson's "draft" began from the beltway - not the Heartland.

The media will actually talk about Thompson. They failed to even mention Clark, even as a declared candidate, for 19 straight days on CNN's Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff.

If Thompson wins a primary, you will hear far more about it than his driver's speeding ticket.

If Thompson raises more money than the current netroots favorite, we'll hear about that, too.

Thompson isn't Clark. Thompson will be promoted by the media.

[earthlover]

13. How can Clark be compared to Thompson or vice versa?

For one, Clark was DRAFTED to run. Thompson decided to run.

Two, Clark was a war hero. And Thompson?

Clark is the most decorated officer since Eisenhower. But Thompson sure can act!

Thompson, as a Hollywood actor, is the ANTI-CLARK! Everything Clark stands for is turned upside down in Thompson. Biggest contrast, of course, Clark devoted his life to service to his country while Thompson was busy making a name for himself.

Clark is a Democrat through and through, a progressive to the core. But he has the ability to appeal to moderates. Thompson makes no bones about it, he is in the pocket of the same folks who owned Bush. So how do you compare a Republican who appeals mainly to their base to a Democrat who can give appeal for a progressive program to moderates?

Sorry, but Thompson is more like Reagan.

[Tejanocrat]

22. See post # 5.

[dogman]

14. Thompson is more likely to have MSM support, something Clark did not have.

Clark busted his ass for his campaign and then for the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Thompson is lazy, but may have the support of enough Party insiders. Two different ballgames.

[illinoisprogressive]

16. he is entering in july and is beatable depending on our nominee.

[Adelante]

17. Why do you think July?

Just curious.

Apparently, he's been talking to Obama, btw, about national security. I read it today.

[FrenchieCat]

18. What sounds familiar is the meme you are spreading.......

it sounds dead-on the Corporate media's dumbass conventional "wisdom" to me! :eyes:

[Tejanocrat]

24. How is the idea that corporatist Fred is following an UNSUCCESSFUL model a pro-corporate meme?

[Adelante]

25. All models were unsuccessful other than Kerry

Fred Thompson could just as easily, and maybe more accurately, be called The John Edwards of 2004 for 2008, or any of them who lost to Kerry. More accurately because Thompson has electoral politics and campaigning experience Edwards had and Clark did not.

Yet without that electoral politics and campaigning experience:

Clark came in second in Arizona, New Mexico and North Dakota ahead of the more experienced campaigners. Third in New Hampshire, Tennessee and Virginia ahead of experienced campaigners. Fourth in Missouri and South Carolina ahead of experienced campaigners. Fifth in Delaware, Maine, Michigan, and Washington ahead of experienced campaigners. Even as he was set to drop out of the race and endorse Kerry in February, Clark was polling second to Kerry in the upcoming Wisconsin primary. He won Oklahoma over everyone, including Kerry. He was the only candidate, outside of Kerry, to win a state he doesn’t live in or wasn’t born in.

Not bad for a first time out, but not bad even in comparison to the other, experienced candidates.

http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/candidates/1771/index.html

[Tejanocrat]

26. Maybe I think more highly of Clark than you do. In my view Clark lost only because of a bad strategy

of getting in the race late and skipping Iowa. I don't presume Clark would have lost to Kerry if Clark had entered the race before Memorial Day and run hard in Iowa. I see Thompson as failing to learn the lesson of Clark's tactical error of getting into the race too late.

I suspect that when Romney wins the Repu nomination, there will be hand wringing from people who ask "would Fred have won if he'd gotten into the race earlier?"

[LBJDemocrat]

19. The Democratic Party works differently

On message boards like DU, you don't get banned for criticizing the moderator's choice of candidate during the primaries. On RimJob's site, you do.

I don't know if other right-wing message boards work that way, but it suggests that dissent is much less encouraged in the GOP once a frontrunner is annointed.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. No. The media will give Thompson tons of coverage; most of it positive.

They wouldn't give Wes Clark the time of day.

[Vickers]

23. Jeez, do we really need another broken-down actor who avoided

military action? I mean, so soon?