Thompson goes for broke in Iowa

It is about time!

FORMER TENNESSEE SENATOR Fred Thompson has decided to take his campaign and virtually all of its resources to Iowa in an all-or-nothing attempt to register a strong showing in the caucuses here on January 3. "We're getting ready to make this not only our second home, but our first home," he told a small gathering of supporters at the Polk County Convention Center on Friday night. Thompson and his wife Jeri chatted with the crowd before making their way through the exhibits at the Iowa Farm Bureau's annual meeting in downtown Des Moines.

Beginning Monday, December 17, Thompson will launch a bus tour that will take him throughout the state. From the beginning of that trip through caucus night, Thompson will essentially live in Iowa, taking only a one-day trip out of the state to celebrate Christmas at his home in Virginia.

"Iowa is critical to our campaign, and it may in fact be everything to our campaign," says one Thompson official. "If we don't do what we need to do in Iowa, it will be tough to compete effectively down the road."

As we can see from his slippage in the polls in SC and FL. He should have done this a month ago.

New Romney Mailing in Iowa

Comparing himself to McCain, Thompson and Giuliani on the gay marriage amendment as the only one who is for it but he leaves out Huckabee (who is also for it):

For the first time, Mitt Romney is using direct mail to contrast his record with his GOP rivals. In a piece that has just hit Iowa mailboxes, Romney points out that he's the only of the "leading Republican candidates" to support a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The former governor pointedly ignores Mike Huckabee, who has emerged as his most serious challenger in the Hawkeye State and who supports the ban.

Romney, whose campaign has debated internally whether or not to draw such direct contrasts with paid media, is clearly trying to set himself apart as the only electable candidate who sides with the conservative GOP base on a key issue.

The piece, sent by a rival campaign, is the classic "side-by-side," used to paint a rival (or rivals) as being on the unpopular side of a policy. Unsaid, of course, is that Romney himself took a much more moderate approach to gay rights issues when he ran for the Senate in 1994 and governor in 2002.

(via)

If I were a presidential candidate in this race I would do a comparison mailing on Romney running for governor of MA and running for president today.

BTW, it still irks me that this has become such a big issue in the race when Romney can't even do anything about it if he were elected president. It's not going anywhere so give it up as an issue, people. It doesn't belong in the presidential race, make it an issue where it will count, in a congressional race.

Why don't you tell us where you stand on drilling in the Gulf or ANWR, that's more important to me. Why don't you tell us what you plan to do about the value of the dollar? Iran? Israel? The deficit, pork filled spending bills? Shrinking the size of government? These are actually issues that the president will be able to do something about. Stop wasting our time on issues that don't really matter.

If the gay marriage amendment comes up tomorrow night, I hope the candidates turn to Romney and say, "Since you're for it, tell us how you're going to make it happen." It's easy to be for something now that you know won't be going anywhere later.

I think it's commendable that the other candidates aren't pandering on this issue just to get more votes, it makes me respect them more.