It looks like Carl Carmeron at Fox News is hearing similar rumblings to the earlier MSNBC report regarding the internal battles within the Thompson campaign:
For months, the former Tennessee senator has been rising in the polls by merely “testing the waters” and refusing to undertake the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign.
But there has been much speculation about the role of Thompson’s wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, and today, a senior adviser to Fred Thompson today stepped out of a day-to-day role in the campaign because of friction with her.
When asked to confirm reports that Tom Collamore would reduce his role to senior adviser, two senior Thompson insiders adamantly denied it to FOX News today, insisting that the emergence of Randy Enright as campaign manager and the reduction of Tom Collamore’s role had always been part of the plan.
But multiple sources close to Thompson now tell FOX News that denial was inaccurate. In fact, Collamore and Kehn butted heads, and that was partially responsible for Collamore’s move.
Thompson’s wife Jeri is a hard-nosed former Republican party operative and a long time political professional with a strong will. Insiders have long speculated that her personality would play a big role in the narrative of Thompson’s candidacy.
The fact that Fred Thompson’s campaign has seemingly split between pro and anti-Jeri Thompson camps before he has officially announced speaks volumes. Senior advisers clearly aren’t happy with the role that she’s in and their making their feelings known. It’s important to point out that this criticism has been around for a while now:
“She’s running the campaign,” grouses one veteran GOP political operative involved in the Draft Fred movement. “It’s the No. 1 rule of politics: The wife can’t be the campaign manager.”
Playing a role is fine, says the unnamed operative, “but not calling all the day-to-day shots.”
The campaign needs to get on the same page or the dissension will only grow larger.
Given all of this, not to mention the poor fundraising performance, the lack of a official announcement date, and the fact that noted conservative columnist Debbie Schlussel has come out strongly against him makes this an extremely rough couple of days for Thompson.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Thompson has a lot of flaws and is not, in my opinion, the party’s best candidate for 2008 (that would be Rudy, in my opinion, but I do have a lot of respect for McCain and his leadership on Iraq). But I have to admit the man is so… likeable. I listened to his recent press confrence (the on where the 911 truther trued to bum-rush him) and, really, he comes off as the most natural, easygoing and presidential candidate for either party. If the party was not in so much need of a fresh start candidate he would probably be an ideal choice.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Does Jeri Thompson remind anyone of a certain Senator from New York?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
If he’s smart, Fred will find a way to turn this whole Jeri thing into a gain.
How about the motto “two for the price of one”? I’ll bet that’s never been tried before…
July 25th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
From Drudge…
WASH POST PAGE ONE THURSDAY: FRED THOMPSON TRIAL LAWYER RECORD… DEVELOPING…
July 25th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
DEVELOPED…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072502329.html?nav=rss_politics
July 25th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Hmm, a spouse can be a campaign manager.
Works for Edwards & Hillary. Mind you, Jeri is not a former President.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Pete, actually, this story reminds me of a certain Mayor from New York.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Not certain how any conservative would come to the conclusion that Rudy would be best for the party; I respect McCain for his military service but wouldn’t vote for him to be dog catcher. The reality is that of the first tier candidates (Fred, Rudy, McCain, and Romney) Fred is the only conservative and the base of this party isn’t going to support Rudy because other than Iraq he’s no different than Hillary, McCain because of immigration first, and Romney because he hasn’t stuck to a position for longer than 24hrs since he announced he was running.
Fred is the only choice. Yes all campaigns have staff move in and out. This is no big deal and in a month it will be ancient history after Fred announces.