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Thompson Raises More Than $8 Million in Q3

September 30, 2007 5:05 PM

ABC News' Christine Byun Reports: Fred Thompson's presidential campaign will report raising more than $8 million in the third quarter of this year, according to Thompson campaign Deputy Communications Director Karen Hanretty.

Since announcing his candidacy on September 5 on NBC's "The Tonight Show," Thompson has been going to his homestate of Tennessee for the bulk of his presidential fundraisers.

This past week, the former senator spent Thursday and Friday at fundraisers in five different cities in Tennesse, plus one in Mississippi.

On Friday, Thompson sent out an email to supporters asking them to "help [them] finish strong" by contributing by Sunday's fundraising deadline.

Last week, he spent some time raising cash in Texas and Florida.

Thompson's website, Fred08.com, features an online contest to see which hometown can raise the most money.

According to the site, the five top ONLINE fundraising towns are: Lookout Mountain, TN; Gilbert, AR; Adams, TN; Eagleville, TN; Fredonia, ND. (The cities are judged by donations per capita, by the way) The winning town gets a "special opportunity to visit with Fred in your hometown" with those who contributed.

The Thompson campaign knows they will not win the money battle, but they say they also expect to spend less. Thompson has, numerous times, said he has saved millions by announcing later than his competitors.

September 30, 2007 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (15)

John Rich Joins Thompson on the Trail

September 30, 2007 4:18 PM

ABC News' Christine Byun Reports: Marking his second swing through Iowa since announcing his candidacy, Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson will bringing a little bit of Nashville star power to the Heartland tomorrow.

John Rich, of the country music duo Big and Rich, will be joining Thompson on campaign trail on Monday. Rich has been a supporter of the former Tennessee senator and has performed at fundraisers for the candidate.

On Saturday, after attending a presidential forum in Wyoming, Thompson and his wife, Jeri, stopped by the Iowa Christian Alliance annual awards dinner in Clive, Iowa. The Thompsons greeted guests at the buffet line, shaking hands with more than 700 local voters as they heaped fried chicken and cheesy potatoes onto their plates.

Iowa Christian Alliance President Steve Scheffler, who met with Thompson over the summer, said members of his organization will be watching Thompson as he meets with Iowans during the next couple of days. Scheffler said they have not heard as much about Thompson compared to his GOP competitors, and will be judging all candidates on their stances on abortion and same-sex marriages. The Iowa Christian Alliance does not endorse candidates, but publishes voters guides. Scheffler stressed a candidate's support for a state and federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages is "an absolute essential" in winning his vote.

Thompson has not yet committed to pledging to support for such a measure. The former lawyer-actor has instead talked about a constitutional amendment that forbids states from imposing their marriage laws on other states, which reportedly did not sit well with Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson, who has since expressed that he will not be supporting Thompson.

September 30, 2007 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (1)

President Clinton Says Hillary is Right on Torture

September 30, 2007 11:29 AM

ABC News' Tahman Bradley Reports: Former President Bill Clinton tried to clear up what appeared to be a difference he has with his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton, over whether the U.S. should condone a formal exception to torture if the nation faces a grave security risk.

Answering a hypothetical question during Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, Senator Clinton said torture cannot be American policy, breaking with the former president who suggested in 2006 that there could be a law setup where the president of the United States could make an exception allowing the use of torture if a prisoner had information that could save American lives.

"Every one of us can imagine the following scenario: we get lucky, we get the number 3 guy in al-Qaeda. And we know there's a big bomb going off in American in three days. And we know this guy knows where it is. Don't we have the right and the responsibility to beat it out of him," said the former president in 2006.

But in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Clinton backed away from his past comments on torture, announcing that his views are now in step with his wife.

"As a general point, I think she's right," he said.

"I think America's policy should be to oppose torture (and) to honor the Geneva Conventions for several reasons: One is, it's always counter productive, if you beat somebody up, they'll tell you what they want to hear. Two, it really hurts us in the rest of the world and it helps to create other terrorists. And thirdly, it's makes our own people valuable to torture."

Despite his seemingly new position on torture, Clinton still pointed to the situations that the fictional government agent Jack Bauer encounters weekly on the popular television series "24" to try to explain the difficult issue.

"It happens every season with Jack Bauer, but in the real world it doesn't happen very much. If you have a policy which legitimizes this, it's a slipper slop and you get in the kind of trouble we've been in here with Guantanamo and lots of other examples."

And further underscoring the difficulty of the issue Clinton told NBC's Tim Russert, "And I'm not even sure what I said is right now."

September 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Obama Fires Back at Bill Clinton

September 29, 2007 2:34 PM

September 29, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Gingrich Not Running in '08

September 29, 2007 1:08 PM

ABC News' Lindsay Hamilton reports: ABC News has learned that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, D-Ga., will not seek the presidency in 2008. Gingrich has kept campaign watchers guessing by delaying his decision for months. As recently as Thursday, it was reported that he was planning to launch a website this coming Monday in an effort to raise $30 million by Oct. 21 to support a possible candidacy.

Despite those earlier indications, Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler confirms that Gingrich is staying out. Tyler said Gingrich plans to "remain a citizen activist," continuing his work with American Solutions for Winning the Future, a non-partisan organization aimed at rising above partisan gridlock to provide solutions to issues facing the United States.

This Sunday Gingrich will appear exclusively on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

September 29, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (27)

Iowa: 'The Whole Shebang' for Obama?

September 28, 2007 9:05 PM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: A certain level of taboo language has been swirling around in recent days about Sen. Obama's outlook in Iowa.

In comments reported in The New Republic, campaign manager David Plouffe was heard exclaiming, "Iowa -- that's the whole shebang!" Michael Crowley reports that after a pause Plouffe followed up, "I guess I'm not supposed to say that. … But Iowa is very important."

Plouffe's comments come on the heels of a dust up of press following Michelle Obama's assertion in Iowa Wednesday that, "If Barack doesn't win Iowa, it's just a dream. If we win Iowa, then we can move to the world as it should be."

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responded, “Every campaign understands the importance of doing well in Iowa. Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack talked about helping Hillary Clinton win Iowa. Edwards strategist Joe Trippi said that if Sen. Edwards doesn’t win Iowa it will severely diminish his chances. ... This is a campaign that’s built for the long haul.”

Obama has mostly ranked third in polls, placing him behind Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards. But in an e-mail to supporters last weekend, Plouffe argued that the polls consistently under represent in Iowa and elsewhere the greatest of Obama's support.

September 28, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Bill Clinton Challenges Obama's Experience

September 28, 2007 6:41 PM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Former President Bill Clinton is pulling out his resume against Senator Barack Obama's credentials to run for president.

In an interview with "Political Capitol With Al Hunt" set to air on Bloomberg TV, Clinton compared his experience level in 1992, running against George H. W Bush, to that of Illinois Senator Barack Obama's as he runs against Clinton's wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

"There is a difference…I was the senior governor in America. I had been head of any number of national organizations that were related to the major issue of the day, which is how to restore America's economic strength."

The former president also explained that Obama's experience is more similar to his own in 1988, before he ran for Presidency.

"I came within a day of announcing, because most of the governors were for me and I had been a governor for six years," Clinton said.  "I really didn't think I knew enough and had served enough and done enough to run."

Clinton also described the issues the world faced then as opposed to the international conflicts of present day, "We didn't have the terror threat. We didn't have troops in Iraq. We didn't have the Afghan issue hanging fire."

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded to ABC News in a statement, "Senator Obama has over two decades of the experience America needs right now.  He can change the divisive politics of Washington because he's the one candidate who's spent his career bringing people of differing views together to deliver results on things like health care and ethics reform," said Burton.  "And when it comes to restoring America's image in the world, America needs a President who made the most important foreign policy decision of a generation based on what was right for America, not the politics of the moment."

Clinton's interview on Bloomberg TV airs Friday at 11 pm.

September 28, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Giuliani: 'No Matter What the Debate Was ... I Would Have to Turn It Down'

September 28, 2007 4:14 PM

ABC News' Jan Simmonds Reports:  Outside the Original Pantry Café in Los Angeles Friday morning, Rudy Giuliani explained his absence at last night's Republican debate on race issues by saying that his priority the last two weeks has been centered around his fundraising operation.

"I did show up last night … I showed up to the events that I was scheduled for," said Giuliani. 

"I get invited to a dozen debates. I can only do one or two a month," the former New York Mayor added.  "And then quite frankly I would have gone to no debate in the last two to three weeks, well the last two weeks.  Cause these last two weeks have been devoted to raising money, that is just the simple reality of it."

Asked whether his failure to appear at the forum may give the wrong impression to minority voters, Giuliani said, "I would ask them not to." 

"And no matter what the debate was last night or if there was a debate tonight or the night before … I would have to turn it down," he said.  "Because I would have been scheduled already for these last minute fundraisers that are so important to our being able to compete in January and February." 

The national Republican frontrunner though, did not shy away from commenting on Hillary Clinton’s performance this past week at the Democratic candidates’ debate in new Hampshire.

During Wednesday's debate, Clinton said that she was now against all torture – "period" – even though previously she held the position that it was okay aggressively question a terrorist to foil "something imminent."

Clinton later remarked that her change in policy was born out of conversations she has held with generals on the subject.

Seizing the opportunity to call out Clinton for changing her position, Giuliani announced he was going to now adopt a "new posture towards Senator Clinton."

"I am going to wait till she holds a position for a week or two and then I am going to comment on it.  Senator Clinton changes her mind so often, that it is really really hard to critique a particular position, because by the time you critique it she may have changed it," Giuliani said.

He also took offense to Clinton now saying she thought the troops in Iraq could end up staying in Iraq till 2013.  Giuliani noted that Clinton previously stated that if the troops weren't out of Iraq before she was elected president, then she would remove them immediately once in office. 

"That's like a total, that's not a flip-flop, that's like a total trip around the world," he added in astonishment.

September 28, 2007 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Gingrich Website to Be Launched

September 28, 2007 3:53 PM

ABC News' Jake Tapper Reports: ABC News has learned that on Monday, Randy Evans, a longtime aide to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, will announce the creation a website for a possible Gingrich run for the White House.

Through that website Evans will attempt to solicit $30 million in pledges for the Gingrich campaign.
Last week Gingrich told reporters that Evans would devote October towards seeking the $30 million in pledges.

If enough pledges are made by Nov. 1, Gingrich has said he will consider running.

Yesterday, on the 13th anniversary of the signing of the Contract with America, Gingrich held a bipartisan "Solutions Day" event where he said the nation needed "real change, not the same old stuff."

More will be disclosed by Evans at a press conference Monday at 3:30 pm EST in Atlanta, Georgia.

September 28, 2007 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (6)

Obama: Justice System is Racially Biased

September 28, 2007 2:55 PM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Resurrecting images and words from civil rights leader Marin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., Friday invoked the Jena Six case and the response to Katrina to lay out his platform on criminal justice reform.

Speaking at a convocation ceremony at Howard University, a historically black school, Obama said it is because of civil rights victories in years past that "a black man named Barack Obama can stand before you today as a candidate for President of the United State of America."

The Senator said despite gains, examples of inequalities abound.

"Like Katrina did with poverty, Jena exposed glaring inequities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out," Obama said.  He commended the Howard students who joined demonstrators in Jena, Louisiana to protest the judicial treatment of six black teenagers who were arrested for beating a white schoolmate following a series of racially motivated incidents.

Obama addressed how he would change the inequalities in America's justice system, aiming for a criminal justice system with "trust and confidence in every American, regardless of age, or race, or background."

The Senator said he would rid the Justice Department of "ideologues and political cronies." He said he would push for voting rights legislation, and would demand that every person accused of a crime have access to a quality public attorney.

Obama said the punishment for drug crimes are racially biased, saying, "punishment of crack cocaine should not be that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference is the people using them."

He said mandatory minimum drug sentencing should be reviewed, calling for the reduction of "blind and counter productive warehousing of non violence offenders."

"I am not just running to make history," Obama said. "I'm running because I believe that together, we can change history's course. It's not enough just to look back in wonder of how far we've come –- I want us to look ahead with a fierce urgency at how far we have left to go." 

September 28, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (56)