That is the charge asserted by Robert Novak and those he has interviewed who have linked Thompsons lackluster entrance into the race with his “gatekeeper” staff who seem to want to go it alone in planning.

An example of those excluded is Scott Reed, who ran Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign and is regarded as one of Washington’s keener political minds. Reed donated money to McCain but had not committed to him and was ready to join Thompson’s team. He would have given Thompson an experienced political manager who knows how to navigate the Republican nominating process.

Reed participated in one private meeting with Thompson but got no further. Three sources told me that the gatekeeper who excluded him was Mary Matalin, a longtime Republican operative dating back to George H.W. Bush’s campaigns. She is a Washington insider who does not espouse the socially conservative views Thompson is expected to project by those Republicans in search of a nominee. Matalin did not return my telephone call.

“I can’t pass judgment on it,” said Thompson. “I know that good people were doing what they thought was best. That’s going back in history. I don’t remember the details of it.” - ABC News

It seems rather unlikely that Thompson wouldn’t be able to recall the “details” of the Schiavo case. It wasn’t exactly ancient history, it was 2005. It also wasn’t exactly a quiet little issue, it was a national obsession for quite awhile. So what can we take from it?

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From the NY Daily News:

“They said, ‘You gotta quit smoking,’” Thompson explained to a questioner asking about progress in Iraq during a town hall-style meeting. Thompson said the smoking ban and terror tactics Al Qaeda used to oppress women and intimidate local leaders pushed tribes in western Anbar Province to support U.S. troops.

But Thompson’s tale of a smokers’ revolt baffled some in the audience of about 150 who came to decide whether the former Tennessee senator is ready for prime time.

“I don’t know what that was about,” said Jim Moran, 72, who had driven from nearby McCook Lake, S.D.

The right leaning NewsBusters points out that Thompson at the very least had some credibility here as CNN along with a military blogger both made mention of this ban over the summer and the brutal punishment for ignoring it. So there was a smoking ban, it did bother people and it was part of large mistreatment by al Qaeda that would have turned Iraqi’s away.

The problem for Thompson is that when you assert something to an audience you have to explain what you are talking about. If you don’t then forming conclusions about a complex issue around a simple explanation that an audience doesn’t understand will only make you, the speaker, look silly.

Yes I did say I was bored with Fred Thompson’s campaign in the last post BUT this is a site about the 2008 elections and this is newsworthy. So here is Fred Thompson’s new ad running tonight during the Republican debate on FOX he is not attending.

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So around midnight the Web video announcing his candidacy hits the Internets at about the same time he will be appearing on Jay Leno on the east coast. Honestly, I have about zero interest in the whole thing.

This extended unofficial campaign, campaign, has really exhausted me on all things Fred Thompson. In about an hour the Republicans will debate, an ad will run for his campaign (well placed!) and he will basically be the big giant elephant in the room that will actually, most likely, be talked about.

The problem is, in my estimation, the last six months he has been built up so much he may have nowhere to go but down. Simple physics really. Unless he pulls a rabbit reading the constitution while holding a ventriloquists dummy whistling dixie out of a snow-cone, I don’t know if there is much that can really live up to expectations. His best selling point right now is that he isn’t any of the other candidates running. The rest is still circumspect.

Yes, I understand this is the group-think right now in prognostication but I am telling you from my own perspective I AM BORED with Thompson and he hasn’t even begun running yet.

From the Examiner:

“There have been a million debates already and there are going to be a million more,” Harris said. “And people are going to see Fred Thompson out there, mixing it up with the other candidates, mixing it up with the media, engaging the voters. They are going to see months and months and months of that.”

In the meantime, Harris said, “it makes a lot of sense” for Thompson to appear on the Leno show instead of the GOP debate because the candidate will reach “everyday normal Americans who don’t live in the 202 area code.”

I 100% agree, people are not watching these debates and Mr. Thompson will get more in the short term from appearing on Leno than being lectured by Duncan Hunter on issues. As a whole his campaign is making the best impact message, put out a video, make some speeches, see the people and then go on television.

Here is the problem. People watch Leno and Letterman etc. a heck of a lot more than watch the debates. However Leno & Letterman etc. report on the debates, they make fun of them and hit the candidates hard when they mess up. The longer Thompson delays debating, the harder it becomes for him to build an impact being a “credible” candidate. The debates themselves, as two-hour long pieces of show, matter little. The aftermath, the soundbytes, the jokes, the perception are key.

The reason a candidate does so many debates where no one watches is so they can prepare for the debates that really matter and use their good performances to manage the news-cycle. They can work out their message, work out their ideas, learn how to take on their opponents, learn how to project and work out the kinks in their style. Debates are prep for the presidency because the moment they walk under the microscope of the office they will be debating 24/7 on every issue, every decision and every movement.

We’ve been reading about the magic of the Thompson campaign for months now. Journalists and pontificators have been speculating on his candidacy in pretty positive terms. If he doesn’t bring power to the actual candidacy those stories will soon fade and be replaced by speculation that his shine is dimming.

In my favorite move of politics it has been leaked that the Thompson campaign will hold a conference call at 4 p.m. today to announce that he will make his official announcement on September 6th.

I honestly think Thompson would have done himself a great favor in just announcing and moving on awhile ago BUT with all the changes in the pre-campaign it is a good sign that they were not ready and were better off not just rushing in. So, yeah, I contradicted myself there.

Update: Well Red State is reporting that Thompson will make his announcement TODAY at 4:30 and they have big flashing red DrudgeReport lights surrounding the post. So it MUST be true.

We will see, today, tomorrow, next week, whatever.

All before he has officially announced:

da Rozett, a longtime U.S. Chamber of Commerce official, is gone from the former Tennessee senator’s committee to “test the waters” of a presidential bid after spending the last several weeks as communications director.

“I don’t know what the story is,” said Thompson, who was asked about the departure while campaigning at the Minnesota state fair. “I don’t know what to say about it except that she’s a wonderful lady.”

From the Associated Press

See also Thompson Taps Third Campaign Manager, & NY Times Reports on Thompson Campaign, & Another One Bites the Dust in Thompson’s Crew.

Robert Novak has a two-part scoop concerning Fred Thompson this week. Part 1 is that Thompson will officially open his campaign with a video that will surely spread throughout the Internet and Part 2 that non other than Newt Gingrich, who is rumored to be considering a bid himself, gave the actor/former Senator the idea.

The larger implication of Novak’s scoop is that Gingrich may well be a part of any Thompson run. The sad part about the story is that Thompson or any Republican needs to be told to put a video online. Most of the Democrats opened their campaigns with online videos as well as speeches and the idea, at this point, just seems like commonsense for anyone running and wanting to court the younger generation.

After weeks of top-tier democrats squabbling with one another its nice to see a change of pace. Now top-tier Republicans are ready to go at it.

Today Fred Thompson, who isn’t running yet, took a swipe at Rudy Giuliani. On his Web site Thompson wrote:

When I was working in television, I spent quite a bit of time in New York City. There are lots of things about the place I like, but New York gun laws don’t fall in that category.

Anybody who knows me knows I’ve always cared deeply about the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. So I’ve always felt sort of relieved when I flew back home to where that particular civil liberty gets as much respect as the rest of the Bill of Rights.

Thompson of course was going after Rudy Giuliani whom he mentioned later in the post:

Now, the same activist federal judge from Brooklyn who provided Mayor Giuliani’s administration with the legal ruling it sought to sue gun makers, has done it again. Last week, he created a bizarre justification to allow New York City to sue out-of-state gun stores that sold guns that somehow ended up in criminal hands in the Big Apple.

Meanwhile Mitt Romney has also been swiping Giuliani over NYC’s status as a “sanctuary city” or place where illegal immigrants can go without fear of prosecution.