Fred Thompson’s ‘First’ Campaign Appearance

After announcing his candidacy on Jay Leno’s show last night, Fred Thompson flew to Des Moines, IA, with his wife Jeri and their two very young children.  This afternoon a few miles away from me, former Sen. Thompson held his first public event as a declared presidential candidate.

So how did it go?  I was not there, because Iowa Independent recently brought on veteran Iowa journalist Jay Wagner to cover the Republican campaign, and he ably covered the event without me.  From talking to him and reading his report, a few facts jump out:

Thompson is no Jack Kennedy: fifteen minutes into his speech, Thompson “seem[ed] to have the audience quietly transfixed rather than in an enthusiastic mode.”

Thompson does not draw much of a crowd: “I didn’t need to worry about the size of the room, Still plenty of room for folks within striking distance who want to come down. It’s a workday afternoon, but seems odd that with Thompson’s star power — he was a co-star on the popular television show, “Law and Order” for five years — there’d be more curious fans. Hillary Clinton drew 200 people in Storm Lake on Wednesday.”

Thompson sees his much-younger wife Jeri as a strength for his candidacy and not a weakness: “The walls of the room are covered with homemade signs, many sporting slogans like ‘We Love Jeri’ and ‘Jeri for First Lady’.”

Thompson appears to favor a “stay the course” Iraq policy: Thompson’s own words are, “Iraq is a part of that conflict but Iraq is not that conflict. It will be with us for a long time. If we show weakness and division we will pay a heavy price for a long time.”