Thompson Campaign May Be Shifting Gears
Candidate Has Picked Up Pace Of Appearances

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Fred D. Thompson appears to be stepping it up, at least to a slow trot.

After a series of leisurely weeks, Thompson's campaign announced yesterday that it plans to air its first television commercial since the former senator from Tennessee launched his White House bid just after Labor Day.

In the ad, which will run in Iowa this week, Thompson introduces himself to voters as a "consistent conservative" who as a Republican U.S. senator "fought for tax cuts, and for conservative judges." He adds: "And I'm proud to have had a 100 percent pro-life voting record."

Thompson plans to campaign in Iowa next week after undertaking an unusually busy week that included a day in New Hampshire, two days in South Carolina and an event at the Country Music Association Awards in Tennessee.

But that schedule is noteworthy primarily because of its contrast to the last month.

While his rivals have spent grueling months on the campaign trail, sometimes hitting five or six events in a single day, Thompson has taken it easy, holding just a handful of public events each week.

On Tuesday of last week, for example, Thompson campaigned in California, holding a news conference in San Francisco after a series of closed-door fundraisers. He had no public events on Wednesday but jetted to Las Vegas for a breakfast fundraiser there Thursday morning.

Then, he "went dark," keeping no public schedule until his appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning, his first appearance on the show since he declared his candidacy.

In mid-October, his campaign went days without a stop outside Washington.

During that stretch he gave a brief speech each day to D.C.-based Republican groups such as the Club for Growth and the Values Voters conference.

The following week, he traveled to Florida for a Republican debate and used the opportunity for a two-day trip through the Sunshine State.

But then he went two days without a public event or another trip to an early-primary state.

"I can't imagine a week like that. Most of these guys have been doing double that for more than a year," said Alex Vogel, a Republican consultant who is not affiliated with any presidential campaign.

"It's an expectation thing," Vogel said. "There is nothing, nothing that trumps personal contact. Now, it's clearly game on."

Thompson adviser Rich Galen dismissed criticism of his candidate's schedule, saying that Thompson is working hard on fundraising and policy briefings even when he's not holding public events.

"Just because there's not a public event doesn't mean that he's sipping mai tais under a palm tree," Galen said.

He added that modern campaigns have many more ways to communicate with voters: cable news, talk radio, and the Internet and its bloggers. Thompson's stepped-up schedule is nothing more, Galen said, than "just the ebb and flow of the nature of the campaign."

For Thompson, though, questions about his work ethic are a particularly sensitive matter. Even before his campaign began, newspaper stories and blogs were filled with speculation that Thompson was too lazy or disinterested to run aggressively for president.

A Newsweek cover provocatively asked of Thompson: "Lazy Like a Fox?"

In Florida last month, Thompson was panned when he gave a five-minute speech that followed much lengthier, more energetic performances by his rivals.

Even yesterday, Thompson was caught contributing to questions about his desire to be commander in chief. In an off-camera conversation reported by the London Daily Telegraph, a Fox News reporter jokingly urged his colleagues to speed up preparations for an interview, saying "the next president of the United States has a schedule to keep."

Thompson responded: "And so do I."

Thompson aides have said for months that their candidate will not run a traditional campaign. He waited to join the race until months had passed and purposely skipped a GOP debate on the eve of his announcement.

But the campaign's newly accelerated schedule appears to reflect a recognition that Thompson can't simply saunter his way to the Republican nomination.

Still, in an appearance at the National Press Club yesterday, Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty answered a question about a possible war with Iran in telling fashion:

"Fred won't rush to war because Fred doesn't rush to anything," she said.