I drove over to Cookeville this afternoon to attend a rally for a man who isn't running for President.
Yet.
I estimated the crowd to be just over 200 strong at any given time, but by the end of the day, 250 people had signed a letter urging Sen. Thompson to run for President. I saw a lot of people who didn't get into the line, or who gave up, so I'm guessing that there were at least 350 people there throughout the event, which is a pretty impressive turnout for a guy who isn't even running yet.
One thing that surprised me about the turnout was the age range. There were a lot of younger people there, something conspicuously absent when I was at the Republican campaign headquarters during the last election. If Fred can mobilize the kids, he's going to be hard to stop.
One of the questions I asked people at the rally was why they got so excited about Fred when the field of candidates is already pretty full. The most common answer was that they liked his candor. He has an image as a straight shooter who will say exactly what he thinks, regardless of how it polls. The second most common answer was that they felt he was a true leader, that he had the charisma and personal power to get things done.
I'll have more tomorrow, including some pictures, but it's time for me to get some sleep.
I'm still not getting one iota of the Fred-love. I also don't get one iota of the Obama-love for that matter.
What qualities do either of these men have besides a certain charisma (very different types) that suggests they might make effective presidents?
Disregard the fact that they are serving or have served the public before in their respective Congresses - many people have done that.
I just don't get it...
Posted by: Barry on April 30, 2007 12:12 PM