Right Says Fred

Is this Fred Thompson's moment?

Last week I wrote of the amazing draft Fred Thompson movement. And this week, I saw an interesting thing happen. As dubiously as I normally regard polling data, the latest from Rasmussen -- its first national telephone survey involving Thompson -- may be highly instructive. The results show that without even the brim of his hat in the ring, he already leads Hillary Clinton by a percentage point.

True, it also has him trailing Barack Obama by 12%, but the bad news for Obama is that although he has a robust 54% favorability rating, he has a 36% unfavorable mark, which means that only 10% of those polled are left with no opinion of him. Likewise, only two percent are undecided about Mrs. Clinton; not surprising since she's been in the national spotlight for nearly 15 years. And while Rudy -- with a 66% favorability rating -- beats both of them head to head poll-wise, only a slim five percent of those polled had no opinion of him.

In other words, with nine months to go before the first primaries kick off, most folks have their minds made up about the front-runners. On the other hand, according to the poll Thompson shows a 36% favorable and only a 23% unfavorable number meaning that he's got a potential 41% of the folks to win over. Should his Reagan-like affability and common sense values appeal to say, even half of them, we've got ourselves a horse-race with a real conservative entry in it.

There are those who say that it's too late for Fred; that it takes an enormous amount of time to build up name recognition. These people obviously never sit around, as do I, enjoying adult beverages with regular folks who can effortlessly identify everyone, from last night's contestants on American Idol to the latest missing mountaineer by name.

Some also contend that he's way behind in endorsements and fundraising. But scuttlebutt has it that nearly one quarter of House Republicans may be ready to back him when he visits Capitol Hill on April 18th. And money from grassroots conservatives and the rest of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy could pile up quickly should they feel they have one of their own in the fight.

I'd like to see him get in. God knows we need more conservatives in the race, or the GOP will simply sell its base down the river without so much as a second glance.