Fred Thompson Watch: Thompson is IN
Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson attends the Prescott Bush Awards Dinner, Thursday, May 24, 2007, in Stamford Conn. Hundreds of state Republicans turned out Thursday for the party’s annual fundraising dinner to listen for signs that the pool of presidential hopefuls may have another contender. Thompson was the keynote speaker and the approximate 600 guests paid between $250 to $1,000 for a chance to meet the Tennessee Republican.
Fred Thompson will announce his candidacy for the Presidency over the Fourth of July holiday.
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The sounds you hear are:
1. The Mitt Romney campaign imploding
2. John McCain planning a withdrawal date and not from Iraq
3. The Iowa Ames Straw Poll folks wondering what went wrong.
Stay tuned……
Update:
Enter Number Eleven? Fred Thompson makes it (more) official. According to a campaign source, Thompson will file his FEC papers officially on Monday June 4. In FEC parlance, Thompson is opening a “testing the waters” committee, a technical term that allows Thompson to forgo filing a detailed report on June 30 — though once he’s an official candidate, he’ll have to file retroactively.
The June 4 filing will be coordinated with a first-day fundraising blitz with 100-plus “First Day Founders” raising a significant one day sum in order to send a we’re-in-the-first-tier message. The campaign tells us the “first day” blitz totals they report will be “cash” actually raised, not pledges.
The source didn’t dispute the notion that the one-day goal would be north of seven figures.
The Ames Straw Poll is 72 days away.
More on yesterday’s conference call to donors……
From the Weekly Standard: Testing the Waters
Specifically, a Thompson adviser told The New York Sun yesterday, he will announce the formation of a presidential “testing-the-waters” committee early next week — possibly as early as Sunday.
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