Fredapalooza

What has happened in the last three weeks is nothing short of incredible. Fred Thompson with nothing more than a teaser announcement on Fox news Sunday has rocketed to a solid 3 position (statistical number two position in one major poll) for the Republican nomination. Scores of internet polls have him crushing the competition. I have been watching Presidential politics for a long time and I have never seen this level of gut fervor arising from the grassroots, it's unprecedented.

Early on the MSM was clueless. The lefty press chose to ignore the movement while several so called experts on the right ie. Barnes, Lowry etc. scoffed at the phenomenon. But the shear magnitude of passion percolating up from the collective conservative persona became too manifest to discount or deny. Now that is has been forced down their throat the Press is beginning to get it. More articles are being written everyday on the Thompson candidacy and the tired old "only an actor" and "lack of Senate accomplishments" narratives are appearing with ever increasing frequency. Expect a lot more.

The vast majority of grassroots Republicans are unhappy with Rudy McRomney and are desperately seeking a candidate they can rally around, that candidate is Fred Dalton Thompson. This bottom to top momentum surge is not unlike the 04 Howard Dean phenomenon with one monumentally important distinction, Thompson is mainstream and eminently electable whereas Dean was neither. That makes this juggernaut decidedly sustainable.

I'm beginning to believe that Thompson's strategy of holding off on announcing his candidacy is a prudent one. He's allowing the competition to self immolate. Guiliani who's support is a mile wide and quarter inch thick is estranging himself from the conservative base now on a daily basis. McCain is stuck in first gear spinning his wheels in the South Carolina mud and Romney who is getting a lot of $ from the LDS crowd can't get out of the starting gate. The press is beating up on them and they are beating up on each other all while Fred just sits back and enjoys the show.

Don't believe the no money no organization bombast. If and when he gets in the money will flow to him like never in history and the politicos will be lined up half way to Tipperary to hitch their wagon to this star. The pundits will stand aghast as politicians who have "committed" to other candidates bail and jump on the Fred bandwagon. Again, being that this phenomenon is such a rare occurrence in Presidential politics it's difficult for the "Beltway Brains" to comprehend what's actually going on.

We are in interesting times indeed. We have a top tier candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States who has not even announced let alone lifted a finger in it's pursuit. If Thompson enters the fray, he will not add a mere chapter, he will rewrite the book of Presidential election politics. And there will be one word that permeates his White House run like no other in my lifetime, that word is DESTINY.