Fred Thompson Urged to Make '08 Run

We at the Cacucus Cooler are intersted in reading your comments about former U.S. Senator/actor Fred Thompson running for president. Below is a sample from this article.

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan, served as president for eight years. So why not an actor who plays a district attorney on TV?

Fred Thompson, the character Arthur Branch on NBC's drama 'Law & Order,' is being urged to pursue the GOP nomination by several Tennessee Republicans who also have been trying to drum up support for a candidacy.

Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker has been talking to senators. Rep. Zach Wamp has been in touch with colleagues in the House.

'It's something I hope happens,' Wamp said Friday. 'We need that kind of star quality, but most importantly we need his strength and resolve.'"

Rasmussen Reports: GOP Candidate Brownback Just Five Points Behind Clinton

Is anyone surprised by Brownback's strength?

"Republican Sam Brownback The first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey gauging general-election support for Republican Senator Sam Brownback shows him trailing Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton among likely voters by the narrow margin of just five percentage points. It’s Clinton 46% Brownback 41%.

However, Democratic Senator Barack Obama leads Senator Brownback by the much wider margin of 49% to 34%."

ABC News: Gingrich Admits To Affair While Pursuing Clinton Over Lewinsky

While Gingrich is not a candidate for president, we at the Caucus Cooler think this story certainly has implications on the '08 race.

Time: Giuliani Family Values

We at the Caucus Cooler think this article is a must read. No sample this time, just read the whole article. The staff at the Cooler is working over-time on a few new posts.

Breaking- Is Rudy Having Second Thoughts on Iowa?

We at the Caucus Cooler think this story is a must-read. Below is a sample:

"Is Rudolph Giuliani thinking about skipping the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses next year?
He just might be.

On Monday, after a campaign seminar at Harvard University, Giuliani campaign chief Mike DuHaime refused to commit his candidate to competing in the Iowa contest, which officially kicks off the race for the GOP nomination on Jan. 14, 2008.

Then yesterday, Giuliani’s campaign announced he would indeed make an Iowa swing in April – announcing his travel plans a full month in advance in a bid to head off a spate of Rudy-skips-Iowa stories."

National Catholic Register Says "No Deal" To Rudy

This article is a must read. Here's a sample:

"They are saying that the next GOP presidential candidate might very well be a pro-abortion Republican who promises not to push that issue and is strong on other issues.

They hope that pro-lifers will 'be reasonable,' not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and go along quietly.

We won’t."

Giuliani Plans Iowa Visit Next Month - His First Trip Since November '06

It's being reported that Rudy Giuliani is visiting Iowa on April 2nd. This will be Giuliani's first trip to IA since he campaigned for Jim Nussle’s gubernatorial campaign on the night before the election. Jim Nussle’s consulting firm is playing a big part Giuliani’s Iowa efforts.

Politico Writes About The Romney Rehab Plan

We at the Caucus Cooler found this article to be very interesting. Ok, ok...here's a sample:

"Mitt Romney may be low in the polls right now, but he is a man with a plan, a plan to make him the Republican nominee for president.

Though he is at only 4 percent in national polls, The Politico has learned that in the coming weeks and months, he will:

--- Game the system. Romney intends to take advantage of the various and complicated rules governing the primaries"

Go read the rest of the article.

Let the comparisons begin...

to you know who! C'om, you know who we at the Caucus Cooler are talking about.

Cooler Update

Coolerites,
The nasty storm has rendered Cooler HQ without internet and earlier without electricity. We apologize for the pause in posting. We have a whole array of things for you below, so grab a cup of coffee and get to it.

We'll be back in full force next week and even have a line-change in store for you.

Links we've missed

A couple of stories we've meant to blog on, but haven't had the time. Check out these must read links.

Santorum says anyone but McCain...ouch.
Giuliani's son will be "too busy golfing" to campaign with him...ouch
Coulter calls John Edwards the F word (not the f word that rhymes with duck)
Tommy Thompson campaigns in Mt. Pleasant... (Vilsack Country!)

Campaign Finance Reform

Mitt Romney called for the repeal of McCain-Feingold in a press release on Friday. You can read the full release here. The 3 main tenets of his argument are "Promoting Transparency And Disclosure; - Protecting The First Amendment And The Ability To Criticize Or Endorse Current Officeholders And Candidates; - Preserving Grassroots Activism." Romney has taken this opportunity to distance himself from competitor John McCain on an issue that is popular with the conservative base.

We at the Cooler want to remind you that as a candidate in Massachusettes, Romney supported the abolition of Political Action Committees amongst other reforms that distinctly contrast with this position. You can see the video of Romney's old position on campaign finance reform on CoolerTV.

Straw Poll #2

Another strawpoll was held at the CPAC conference in Washington DC. All major candidates spoke at this event besides John McCain. The most noteworthy things to come out of the speeches were Romney directly criticizing McCain on campaign finance and immigration and Huckabee directly criticizing Romney on his issue evolution. This certainly shows that we're getting closer and closer to the "direct engagement" phase of this primary. On to the results:

Romney 21%
Giuliani 17%
Brownback 15%
Gingrich 14%
McCain 12%
(If you have the full results post in comments, this was all we could track down)

Fallout:
Romney has to feel good about the victory. The small caveat is that he is said to have spent substantial resources to ensure victory, so the gap might not be as big as he would have liked. Nonetheless this shows that conservatives are going to accept Romney as one of them and is a nice win for team Romney.

Giuliani- Similarly to S.C. Giuliani finishes a close 2nd w/o putting much organizational effort into it. He's the weekends big winner.

Brownback- Again he separates himself from the 2nd tier field. Nice weekend for the Kansan.

McCain- Hurt more in the media by skipping the event than these results. McCain has received an extremely negative fallout from the blogosphere for skipping CPAC. The straw poll results are about what you'd expect from a candidate who didn't show up and didn't send staff. Nonetheless clearly a minus for McCain.

Straw Poll #1

Spartanburg, South Carolina held a straw poll on Thursday night. Here are the results.

Arizona Sen. John McCain: 164
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: 162
California Rep. Duncan Hunter: 158
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: 85
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: 80
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: 33 (write-in)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: 21
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: 10
Attorney John Cox: 4
Texas Rep. Ron Paul: 4
Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice: 2 (write-in)
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore: 1
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson: 1
Sanders (the party was unable to identify this candidate): 1 (write-in)

Fallout:

John McCain has to be happy about the victory, especially given the early results that showed him behind. This will be a crucial state for his campaign.

Rudy Giuliani is arguably the big winner here though. Outside of organizing police/fire/first responders after speaking to the group last week, Giuliani spent very little money and still nearly won.

Mitt Romney- Big loser in this straw poll. He had a full staff in place in South Carolina, is advertising on TV there and spent money to turn people out. He finished 5th. Rudy and McCain doubled him up. Ouch.

Sam Brownback- Vastly outpolled Mike Huckabee, his main competitor for the CCA title. Brownback has to be happy with these results.