Thompson Commits to Iowa

This past week, presidential hopeful Fred Thompson launched an all-or-nothing campaign in Iowa in an attempt to register a strong showing in next month's election. Thompson, who hopes to rise from his third place tie with Rudy Giuliani in Iowa polls, announced on December 7th that "We're getting ready to make this not only our second home, but our first home," and told supporters that “I’m going to be in Iowa just about every day from now on." Beginning on December 17th, Thompson will launch a bus tour and campaign virtually nonstop acrosss Iowa until January 3rd, although he will return home to Virginia for Christmas. The news of Thompson's commitment to Iowa comes on the heels of announcements by Wisconsin Right to Life and former Texast Court of Appeals Judge Paul Pressler that they will endorse the former senator in the upcoming election. The announcement by Wisconsin Right to Life is just the most recent is a string of endorsements by pro-life groups, including South Carolina Citizens for Life, Right to Life of Wisconsin, and another pro-life group in West Virginia. Thompson, who knows that he will need as much support as possible for the upcoming primaries, has publicly stated that he needs to win either second or third place in the Iowa caucus in order to survive in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and since neither Giuliani nor McCain (Thompson's primary competition for third place) has spent much time in Iowa, Thompson will likely attempt to secure his position over the former mayor and senator by touting his experience with national security matters and the War on Terror, thereby leaving him in competition with Huckabee and Romney, two candidates without much foreign policy experience. As Thompson campaign spokesman Darrel Ng stated, “history shows that Iowa caucus-goers make up their minds in the final weeks of the campaign, and Fred Thompson will be campaigning at the time when the people have traditionally paid the most attention.”