Fantasy Politics USA

Tommy Thompson is planning on announcing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday. He is running a low budget campaign, hoping for a big win in the first caucus in Iowa. Thompson admits he doesn’t have much cash, “I don’t have much money, but I’ve got pledges for money.” It has also been 9 years since his last election, and six years since he held elective office. He was in the Bush cabinet as secretary of Health and Human Services only two years ago. He is a long shot at best, polling only in the mid single digits on his best days. He is behind even second tier candidates, Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback. Thompson glass is half full saying, “Things are started to coalesce and I feel very, very optimistic about my future,” He really is focusing on Iowa and has been there more than any of the other Republican candidates, and he likes to compare the Iowa Presidential race to like “running for sheriff in 99 counties.” He is hoping to come from out of the pack like Jimmy Carter did 1976. Thompson calls Iraq the number one election issue, and talks about breaking it up into three different places, Sunni, Shiite and Kurd. He doesn’t think to highly of Anthony Gonzales, saying he made “terrible mistakes” in the firing of the 8 federal prosecutors. He also does not support timetables for troop withdrawals out of Iraq saying, “This is an invitation to continue the kind of civil war that’s going on right now. I think it’s the worst mistake.” He believes the Iraqi government should be forced to vote on whether the American troops should stay or go. If they vote go, we should leave. Otherwise troops stay. The Republicans could be looking for Thompson, at least that’s his hope, “The lead is going to change many times between now and January in the Republican Party,” he said. “The Republican Party in Iowa is looking for a reliable conservative, is looking for somebody that’s going to be truthful to them, is going to be loyal, is going to have ideas and can work with the other side to get things done.” Tommy Thompson, the first of the Thompson boys to officially enter this race.
Alan Cosgrove

Tom Tancredo will kick off his campaign in
Des Moines Iowa on Monday. He is expected to make a big announcement on a Des Moines radio station. Tancredo is a five term congressman from Denver who is best know as an staunch opponent of immigration. AP has announced that Bay Buchanan will join Tancredo to chair his exploratory campaign, and he has hired a campaign manager for New Hampshire. He has been campaigning in all the early primary sights. In addition to immigration, Tancredo is also a strong supporter of the pro life movement. He has voted consistently against abortions, and also has voted against stem cell research, which is in contrast to the two front runners. Giuliani and McCain both support forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research. A spokesman for the campaign said Tancredo’s decision to run for President will not affect whether he will run again for his House seat, a la Joe Lieberman style.
Alan Cosgrove

Mitt Romney was in South Carolina yesterday dropping names. Romney was mentioning some possible vice presidential running mates on a Romney ticket. He mentioned three southerners, Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. He had this to say about Jeb Bush, “I love him. If his name weren’t Bush, he’d be running for president, I’m convinced.” Romney went on to say, ”I have to be honest with you, I haven’t given a lot of thought to that, so I don’t want to put any names in that hat right now,” But it appears that he has thought about it, and he just did put names in that hat. I think he should hold off on this decision for a bit, because his early picks are a bit weak. Jeb is just the dumber brother of G. W., and did nothing for the state of Florida in two terms as a governor. He supposedly helped education during those terms, yet the education system in Florida ranks somewhere around 47 or 48 in the nation. Then there’s Newt who has higher negatives than Hillary. I have nothing to say about Sanford, but I’m sure Romney is just pumping up the locals with that pick. If this is a sign of what’s to come in a Romney administration then I’m glad he is falling in the polls.
The leader on the Republican side Rudy Giuliani, is facing problems of his own. Some are questioning his leadrship skills when he was “America’s Mayor”. While mayor Giuliani appointed Bernard Kerik police commissioner, even though Giuliani was aware that Kerik had ties with a company that has ties to organized crime. Giuliani says he was unaware of these ties, but a top investigator briefed Giuliani about these ties as early as 2000. Giuliani forgot about those briefings, but does not deny they happened. But to make things worse he recommended Kerik to Bush as a Homeland Security Chief, and once nominated Kerik pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to his relationship to the company with ties to organized crime. Giuliani now admits that recommending Kerik to this post was a mistake. Of all the people in New York, and the only one available to be police chief was someone that might have ties to organized crime? Maybe Rudy should start with a bigger list next time. I would hope he would make better picks if elected as President.
And if that’s not enough trouble for Rudy, criticism of his actions post 9/11 are getting louder. This is a problem, because many voters look at Giuliani because he stood so tall as “America’s Mayor” during the 9/11 crisis. One major complaint aimed at him was the first responders had no way to communicate with each other. They were still using the same communication gear that caused the same problems for them during the 1993 terrorist attack on the twin towers. Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was among the 343 FDNY members killed in the terrorist attack, screamed at Giulianai at a 2004 commission hearing, “My son was murdered because of your incompetence!” Of course at the same hearing Giuliani was praised for his performance post 9/11.
The firefighters local IAFF have criticized Giuliani for his “scoop and dump” approach to cleaning up the 9/11 sight. Giuliani cut back on the number of searchers looking for fallen brother and sisters in the rubble. Many say it was because he was looking to salvage gold lost in the mess. Giuliani was also criticized for locating the city’s emergency center in 7 World Trade Center, a building that contained thousands of gallons of diesel fuel when it collapsed, (or was brought down) after the terrorist attack.
“We want America to know what this guy meant to New York City firefighters,” said Peter Gorman, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. “In our experiences with this man, he disrespected us in the most horrific way.” So as Giuliani was strutting around looking cool under pressure, he was really totally inept. Kind of reminds me of the way George Bush handled it. We still don’t know where ole Bin Laden is. Strut around, look good, talk tough, but in reality, total incompetence. And this is the front runner of the Republican party. No wonder Fred Thompson is doing so good in the polls. The last time the Republicans had a hero he was an actor too, and Thompson is a better actor than that one!!
Alan Cosgrove

Rudy Giuliani was on old stomping grounds last night talking over a sandwich at a kosher deli in New Jersey, before heading to a fund raiser. Rudy had this to say about the vote to withdraw troops from Iraq by next year, “I hope that the president vetoes it, and I think the idea of giving your enemy a timetable for retreat makes no sense to me,” He also said, “I believe in Reagan’s approach of peace through strength.” Rudy enjoys a corned beef on rye sandwich at this particular diner.
Today Rudy was endorsed by fiscal conservative Steve Forbes. Forbes made this announcement at NASDAQ. Forbes will also serve as Giuliani’s national campaign co-chair and senior policy adviser. “I am honored to support Rudy Giuliani for President,” Forbes said. “As Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani showed how exercising fiscal discipline – including tax cuts – lowers deficits, spurs economic growth, and increases revenue. It is time the rest of the country benefit from a true fiscal conservative leader who gets real results.” This will be a big boost for Giuliani with the conservatives, but to help him even more, Rudy has started to run ads on the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity radio shows. “My campaign is about leadership and optimism,” Giuliani says in the ad. “We need strong leadership to stay on offense in the war against terrorists.’ He also talks about supply side economics and how to get the economy moving. For a link to the ad click here. Giuliani is working on his weak spot by getting more support from the conservatives that have some doubts about him. This could push him far ahead of all the other candidates if it works.
Alan Cosgrove