With a discussion of Fred Thompson's rise and fall, Patrick Ruffini kicks off what promises to be an interesting series assessing the GOP contenders as they depart the field. As someone who thought the most impressive part of Thompson's campaign was the guerrilla stuff he did before he actually got into the race, I think this bit - what Jim Geraghty described as the "he should have punched more hippies" thesis - is spot-on:
When Thompson first teased us with running, his message was all about channeling conservative grassroots frustration. About listening to the grassroots who had been sold down the river on immigration and other issues, and taking dead aim at the enemies of conservatism, starting with Michael Moore and moving down the line. The great hope was that by deploying his sunny Hollywood persona with a dollop of conservative populism he would transcend the Giuliani/Romney/McCain lesser-of-evils fight. He promised us a different type of campaign that would use the Internet to end-run the liberal media.
This electrified the activist class and earned him virtually instantaneous frontrunner status. So what happens next? Everyone associated with the strategy that made Thompson the frontrunner is either fired or resigns, and is replaced by largely by conventional Washington insiders.
To Ruffini, this suggests that "the central lesson to be gleaned from the Thompson campaign is 'trust your instincts.'" I'd make the same point in a different way, and say that the central lesson to be gleaned from the Thompson campaign is "don't hire Mary Matalin."
earned him virtually instantaneous frontrunner status>
This is from an Onion column, right?
Posted by Mike | January 24, 2008 6:59 PM