Why Fred Thompson isn’t on the Pajama Media Straw Poll…Yet.

After the Fox News Sunday (FNS) and the Hannity Radio Show interview, it seemed that Fred Thompson had the momentum. He had exposure, excitement was building and all he did was speak on the air for less than thirty minutes. Fred had ‘blown up the trial balloon.’ Now it was time to see if it floated, and took off.

It did. Big time. People across he country started to notice that Fred would be a great president. They liked the answers from the ‘lightning round’ on FNS. They were the ‘right’ right answers. People liked his positions on the issues, and especially liked the fact that he seemed to truly believe what he said. He is the package that delivered what the other big three candidates did not. Fred Thompson is a true conservative and would govern as the chief executive with conservative principles guiding him. No wobbling, polling or flip-flopping.

It was strange. There seemed to be a ground swell of support from the people for Fred and the support of a conservative candidate. (I am not saying the other big three are not conservatives but each of them has an issue that they support that deviates from the conservative platform. See previous posts for an explanation.) There wasn’t a movement to support him or even recognition of his potential impact on the race in the Right punditry and media. They seemed to brush off Fred as someone who wasn’t going to run.

For example, Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes (two of my favorites,) both said he wouldn’t run. Charles Krauthammer, (I call him The Kraut respectfully since he is the best political analyst period,) also said that Fred was not in. The fine crew over at National Review blogged on The Corner that it was nice but nothing would come of it. The right punditry and media didn’t want to ride the Fred bandwagon, or even acknowledge it was up and had wheels.

I think I know why. A lot of the right punditry and media have already picked a preliminary horse to ride in this race. Since this is so early, there is an unbelievable ability for this group to have their say sway voters to their side. Their comments will have a great weight on people decisions in this election since the new media is the main way republicans, both conservatives and moderates, get their information.

Kathryn Jean Lopez (KJL) at NRO already has interest in Romney. Other pundits and writers also had people they particularly liked, and they were not pushing but pointing others toward. Pundits and writers really want their predictions/support to come to fruition. That’s why they write. They want their beliefs and ideas to become reality; just like every blogger and myself. (Now I am not on the same level as them but on this topic I think I am spot on.)

This was going on all week, until today. KJL wrote an article that basically says, “Hey, why not Fred?” As of this afternoon, I am noticing other writers and media types are wondering why not Fred. Then comes Pajama Media. I love them. The website and the whole effort is awesome. They run a straw poll each week on presidential candidates. The week following Fred Thompson’s appearance on FNS, the Right media they did not include him in the Poll, even though they include Newt. I think the reason is the same. PJ has people they want and that’s fine, Fred isn’t in yet and they want to stick to their current people. But without gauging Fred’s s support with their audience, how do they know he’s not in. Fred is waiting for the groundswell of people to carry him into this race. PJ and others need to bite the bullet and test the waters to see if they are right, or if Fred is the right man for 2008.

Stay Tuned

RR