September 19, 2007
Fred Tries Flattery In Florida
During his first visit to FL on 9/18 a.m., Fred Thompson began his courtship of popular GOP Gov. Charlie Crist's with some kinds words. "I just told my staff I wanted to meet the most popular governor in the country and this is where they brought me," Thompson said to a small gathering of reporters following a brief meeting with Crist in Tallahassee.
When asked how important FL was to his WH plan, Thompson said, "Florida's extremely important in terms of this next election. Quite frankly it's extremely important as far as its primary is concerned, so strictly from a political standpoint it's very, very important."
In an interview later, FL GOP Chair Jim Greer, not surprisingly, agreed. "Florida is the state that everyone needs," he said. "They can't say it because they have to give their due to South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa, but you can certainly see by their actions because everything is focused on Florida…I think everyone recognizes that what we do here on the 29th [of January] is going to play a major role.
"You don't hear someone say, 'Well, if we don't win Florida we'll still be okay.' They're saying, 'Well maybe we can lose Iowa, maybe we come in second in New Hampshire, but when we come to Florida we got to win it.' That shows you where Florida's place is."
Thompson's campaign fits Greer's mold. As a candidate, Thompson is careful to 'give his due' to the other primary states, saying: "I consider [Florida] to be my neck of the woods, as we say back home… I [also] feel at home when I am in the country in Iowa and in little towns in Iowa. And the same thing as far as New Hampshire is concerned, and certainly South Carolina and absolutely Florida."
But for his campaign, Thompson has selected an impressive number of Floridians for senior positions.
The campaign's political director, Randy Enwright, is widely recognized as one of the best political strategists in FL and he stepped down from his position at the RNC in FL to join Thompson's campaign. Todd Harris, Thompson's press secretary, has worked for former-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Jeff Saodsky, a deputy on Thompson's communications staff, was the comm. dir. for the FL GOP until early this summer. Even the former executive director of the Florida GOP, Andy Palmer, left the state party to work for Thompson in the Sunshine State.
Notably, one state Thompson didn't mention in his list of states that felt like home was MS, whose senior Senator, Thad Cochran, officially endorsed Thompson late last week [ADAM AIGNER-TREWORGY].
Posted at 07:56 AM
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