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Energy, high gas prices and the future of fuel highlighted the first debate between Republican Rep. Bob Inglis and his primary challenger, Charles Jeter, Wednesday night at the University of South Carolina Upstate. Trade policy and China's role in world economic and environmental affairs were underlying themes. About 50 people - including staffers and campaign volunteers, event organizers, family members and several media outlets - attended the debate, sponsored by the Spartanburg Young Republicans. WORD radio personality Bob McLain moderated.

John McCain is neither the inevitable Republican Nominee nor as electable as current polling data suggests for three reasons 1) the mainstream media will turn their backs on McCain as soon as he is the nominee, 2) so-called independents and moderates will not show up as strongly for McCain in the general election as in the primary, 3) McCain cannot unify the party because many important conservatives will not rally around him, and 4) McCain-Feingold will literally seal his fate because conservatives will not outlay cash in the general election for McCain. The mainstream media will turn against Senator McCain...

Fred Thompson's political career might very well be over tomorrow. If so, take this post as a postmortem of his candidacy. It is obvious that Senator Thompson has squandered a great deal of good will during the interminable run up to the announcement of his candidacy and his less than stellar performance in the period September through mid-December. The easy analysis is that Thompson was lazy but I don't think it was laziness. I think it was a misguided attempt to run an issues oriented campaign. Thompson's Socratic style of addressing those early crowds was a good way to discuss...

As has been reported elsewhere today, Fred Thompson's mother is gravely ill right now. Our prayers ought to be with Sen. Thompson, his mother, his wife, and their family. This must be a very difficult time for them. All of this political stuff is of only secondary importance right now. That said, here is what I would do, politically, if I were Thompson: I would just lay low. Just wait. See what happens in Louisiana's caucuses tomorrow. See what happens in Florida next week. See who drops out of the race at some point. And then consider reviving my campaign,...

McCain has become the closest thing here to the establishment candidate in a race that lacks a consensus pick. Photo: AP COLUMBIA, S.C. —The national media thinks John McCain is under siege again, and his campaign is only too happy to help reporters file their stories.At a rally Thursday, outside McCain’s headquarters just down the street from the state capitol here, the candidate and a key local supporter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, are explaining that sorcerers of the dark political arts are at work.“There’s a lot being said out there on phone calls, in the mail, that’s a bunch of garbage —...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

As we move on to South Carolina team Thompson is doing something a little different and fun. They are putting up a fun set of videos from their tour down there. They are getting video snapshots of folks who have flipped to Fred from other Candidates. Here is Riley, who flipped from Romney to Fred. Karen flips from Romney to Fred: Ann flips from Huckabee to Thompson: Jason goes from Romney to Fred: Well you get the idea. There is plenty more here. Meanwhile Fred layed the smackdown on the field on Fox News last night. So much so that...

Welcome to our Phone for Fred online phone bank! Person to person contact is the most effective way to make a difference in an election. We created the Phone for Fred program for all of you Friends of Fred who want to volunteer and do more for Fred! We need your help in the early primary states. Our Phone for Fred online phone bank makes it easy for you to make a difference! Fred only needs a small commitment of time and you will soon see that your phone calls and person to person contact will help Fred win!

Senator, I realize that John McCain is a friend and that you do not do your friends dirty. Unfortunately, Senator McCain is already doing himself dirty on the immigration issue. His backpedaling, blatant Janus-like turns on the border fence, open disdain for those of us who appreciate the rule of law, and shameless demagoguing on this issue is souring people on him more and more every day. These are voters you not only need on your side, but should very much want. These are not, as some would have us believe, a howling mob of racists or bunch of cruel-hearted...

Our campaign has had a fantastic month! From dominant debate performances to standing room only crowds, Fred is really hitting his stride just in time for the most important contest of the race so far. As much emphasis as is placed on Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina is the real bellwether in the GOP nominating process. On Saturday, voters in the Palmetto State will go to the polls and make a statement about the direction of our Party and our nation. As Fred pointed out in last Thursday's debate in Myrtle Beach, we are in a battle for the...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

Fred Thompson has raised over $200,000 online since his boffo debate performance last night, says spokesman Todd Harris. For a candidate who is putting everything on South Carolina, the showing could not have come in a better place (Myrtle Beach) or on a better network (Fox) or at a more critical time (just over a week before the South Carolina primary). The debate got front-page previews in both the Charleston and Myrtle Beach papers yesterday, and many conservatives were already likely tuning in to their favorite station. The South Carolina papers had similarly prominent coverage of the debate this morning....

The long awaited endorsement from BackSpin is out: Fred Dalton Thompson. Every primary and caucus voter should watch Fred's message to Iowa voters: Rudy, Romney, and Huckabee all have their weaknesses, and their strengths, but the most important quality in a candidate is going to be the ability to communicate conservative principles. We as Republicans have to stop trying to win elections 'on the cheap.' For too many years, we have taken the lazy road to campaigning. We try to sell voters on tax cuts, because that's an easy sell, and then we try to offer all the candy that...

At 9:00 pm ET Fox News will broadcast the Republican Presidential debate from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As usual, I’ll be liveblogging it on the Fred File. Hope to see you then.

I haven't been a blogger since last spring. But I am still active in several conservative forums and I am bringing you some information that I think only grassroots groups, bloggers, and talk radio can do anything about. Regardless of your political affiliation, or your choice of candidate, it should be somewhat chilling to realize how much the media is manipulating campaign information and access. I don't write this to whine "it's not fair!", but to make you aware that there is a real problem. I've tried to handle this through official channels (ie: the SC GOP, Fox News, and...

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decided in late September he would not run for president this year, Bob Walker went looking for another Republican he could support. He found Fred Thompson. "I'm interested in somebody who is seriously considering the issues not just as a political gimmick, but has real, long-term ideas in mind for fixing some very large problems we face immediately and down the road," Walker says. "I came to the conclusion that Fred Thompson was the guy in the race who had that kind of serious attitude," says Walker, a Lititz resident...

Apparently, small government Republicans [Huckabee’s] aides are wary of New Hampshire. “It’s all no tax, no government there,” said Bob Wickers, a top strategist. “It’s not ideal.” But they believe that the message of economic anxiety that he preaches will help in Michigan’s primary on Jan. 15 and in states in the South, which have high poverty rates in addition to strong groups of social conservatives.” Mike Huckabee is skipping New Hampshire because it’s too fiscally conservative. Instructive, yes? Huckabee’s brand of identity politics is as dangerous as anyone else’s - after nearly eight years of a fiscally liberal Republican...

It looks like the Politico website has another fascinating scoop full of un-substantiated and un-named sources. That is that John McCain's campaign is literally hanging by a thread. He is low on money and fallen to a fourth place tie with Ron Paul in Iowa. Sources (unnamed) say that a McCain shellacking in Iowa will likely drop him out of the running in New Hampshire where is organization is running on fumes. In Iowa McCain has gone from 13% and high hopes of pulling a surprise to falling to 10% and a tie with a surging Ron Paul. UPDATE: ARG...

Fewer active voters than in the 2006 general election will be casting ballots during the January presidential primary season in Orangeburg, Bamberg and Calhoun counties, according to statistics from the State Election Commission. Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said the decline likely is because of inactive voters not responding to cards mailed out to maintain state registration records. The cards were sent out to voters who did not cast ballots in the last two general elections to confirm those individuals are still living at their respective addresses. People who did not return the confirmation cards will be able to vote but...

As Rush points out at the top of the excerpt, he does not endorse candidates in primaries. But that does not stop him from taking note of a fact that many Reagan Republicans are seeing Fred Thompson as the only true conservative in the field of Republican candidates. (VIDEO) With 13.5 million weekly listeners (some have suggested the number is closer to 20 million), Rush’s comments will not go unnoticed. Question is, is it enough to keep Fred in the race through?

Almost as I'd thought. The endorsement of Rep. King has begun having an impact in the Iowa poll numbers and the Thompson campaign is on the move according to this latest Strategic Vision poll. - Huckabee -31% - Romney - 25% - Thompson - 16% The anomaly in this poll right now is Huckabee (another post on that later) who when this poll was taken was at 31%. I have not heard the entire show, however the internet is abuzz with Rush's cremation of Huckabee (and for good reason...again more on that later). Huckabee's numbers are going to plummet down...

Stick a fork in him: With fewer than 20 days until the Iowa caucuses, three men in the Republican Party stand to get their tickets punched out of the Hawkeye State. While everything is still in flux, those likely winners will be Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson. Notably missing out on Iowa’s political rocket fuel is national frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. While most political insiders and pundits have known for months that Giuliani had no plans to compete in Iowa, the general American electorate probably does not. Known to not pay attention to the early political pontificating, the average...

Join us December 13th for a Phone for Fred Party! We get thousands of emails every week from regular folks asking how they can get involved and make a big difference even though they don't live in the early states. Next Thursday, December 13th, we are having a nationwide phone bank for Fred. Hosting a phone bank on the 13th is the best way to make a real difference in the final month going into the Iowa Caucus. Take a group picture of everyone at your party, and if your party makes the most calls we'll make it the feature...

Days left until the Jan. 19 S.C. Republican presidential primary: 46 Days left until the Jan. 26 S.C. Democratic presidential primary: 53 Days left to register to vote: 17 CAMPAIGN TRAIL When and where presidential candidates are appearing in South Carolina 12:15 p.m. today: Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson will have a meet-and-greet at Wade’s Southern Cooking at 100 N. Pine St. in Spartanburg. 2 p.m.: Thompson will visit Blue Ridge Shooting Sport Store at 3559 Ballenger Road in Greer. 6 p.m.: Thompson will visit Market Square Deli at 2029 Wade Hampton Blvd. in Greenville. 8:45 a.m. Wednesday: Thompson will...

Roger L. Simon, last seen cavorting with Pajama clad babes on the floor of the BlogWorld convention like a latter day Hugh Hefner, sat down with Fred Thompson to discuss the Global War on Terror. Bob Owens, proprietor of the excellent Confederate Yankee blog, joined Roger in conducting the interview. I linked to this yesterday in my Republican race Q&A, but the interview itself merits a little post of its own. In no particular order, a few observations: 1) The long form interview allowed Fred to express his knowledge and thoughts on the war on terror. He was impressive. Believe...

One of the big stories in the Republican presidential race last week was a series of controversial survey calls in Iowa and New Hampshire that asked respondents some pointed questions about Mitt Romney. Specifically, voters in the first two Republican contests received calls with negative messages about the former governor’s religion, his Vietnam-era military deferments, his sons’ lack of military service, and the notion that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible. The question, of course, was who was responsible for the calls. For one thing, they may have been illegal — as the Union Leader...

Welcome to our Phone for Fred online phone bank! Person to person contact is the most effective way to make a difference in an election. We created the Phone for Fred program for all of you Friends of Fred who want to volunteer and do more for Fred! We need your help in the early primary states. Our Phone for Fred online phone bank makes it easy for you to make a difference! Fred only needs a small commitment of time and you will soon see that your phone calls and person to person contact will help Fred win! Pick...

From the desk of Todd Harris, communications director to Fred Thompson: "There is no room for this kind of smut in a Republican primary election. While there are certainly issues our campaigns disagree on, we are united by far more than that which divides us. One of our candidates is going to emerge from this process as the standard bearer for all Republicans, and we will need a united party to win next year. This kind of robo-dial bigotry which tears down Republicans today will only serve to prop up Democrats tomorrow. It has to end and end now."

MC LEAN, Va., Nov. 14 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today the Fred Thompson campaign announced its Students For Fred National and State Leadership Teams. These student volunteers will be actively leading the Fred Thompson grassroots efforts on college campuses across the nation. Matthew Farrar will serve as the Florida Chairman as well as a National Co-Chair of Students for Fred Thompson. A senior political science major at Florida State University, Farrar has previously served on the 2006 Charlie Crist Gubernatorial campaigns and has worked on numerous state races throughout Florida. "Sen. Fred Thompson has made it clear that he is the...

McLean, VA - On the heels of strong grassroots showings in Myrtle Beach, Columbia, Ft. Mill, Spartanburg and Greenville, Fred Thompson is officially announcing his statewide Campaign Chair, several regional leaders and 27 county chairs and co-chairs in 19 counties across the state. Congressman Gresham Barrett (SC-03) has been named Statewide Campaign Chair and will help lead Thompson's effort in South Carolina along with Thompson's Steering Committee, chaired by Major General James E. Livingston, USMC (Retired), and Regional Chairs. "Senator Thompson is a consistent conservative leader with a solid record in supporting life, fighting illegal immigration and defending the Second...

As I have said in months past, the reports of the death of social conservatism within the Republican Party are greatly exaggerated. There isn't a candidate in the Republican Primaries that doesn't dream of the opportunity to get key endorsements from the social Right. Rudy Guiliani would even like to get a few more than just Pat Robertson-after all, Robertson has been discredited within the conservative movement for a very long time. On the other hand, the idea that pro-family social conservatives are in total control of the GOP is something that both the press and the Democrats have attempted...

Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson will make his first visit to the Grand Strand on Tuesday. The former Tennessee senator will meet and greet voters at the NASCAR Cafe at 1808 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach. The event starts at 4:15 p.m. Prior to his visit to Myrtle Beach, Thompson is scheduled to address students, faculty and staff at the Citadel. Thompson will speak at McAlister Field House.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Maybe Mitt Romney should study his family tree. Surprised to see a distant relative in the front row at a campaign stop Wednesday, the Republican presidential hopeful interrupted his education speech at a children's museum to introduce her. "In the front row over here is my niece, Heather Glenn," Romney said. "That's probably not your last name anymore, Heather. But Heather is a school teacher. Are you a school teacher?" "No. I'm a pediatrician," she responded. "She's a pediatrician," Romney said, to laughter. "Deals with kids. I haven't seen Heather in, um, 20 years. Good to...

The way to avoid a Rudy nomination is to simply bury him in the primaries. Let's examine a few key facts. 1) The current national polls have Rudy at about 30%, Thompson at 21%, McCain at 13%, Romney at 11%, and Huckabee at 6%. The other 19% are either going for a minor candidate or are undecided. 2) Rudy is mostly leading because a) he's the only pro-choice candidate against seven pro-life candidates and b) he's supported by some conservatives because he's seen as the best chance to win. 3) While McCain is listed as third here, it's pretty generally...

The Politico's Martin looks at large discrepancy between the number of staffers the leading Dems have in Iowa and New Hampshire versus the leading Republican candidates. In fact, Martin finds the second-tier Democratic candidates have more staffers on the ground in the early states than all of the LEADING GOP candidates. (By the way, considering how little of an organizational advantage Romney may actually have in the first two states, does that mean Thompson can get up to speed in Iowa faster than some believe?) --snip-- NBC/NJ's Memoli notes that Ann Romney seemed to take personally Thompson’s "actor" barb in...

ARG released a rather bizarre poll in South Carolina yesterday. The poll shows Mitt Romney essentially tripling his support from 9% a month ago to 26% and Fred Thompson losing half of his support going from 21% to 10%. To put the ARG poll in perspective, no other poll going back to 2007 has shown Romney in second place let alone first in South Carolina. And no poll since June has had Fred Thompson in anything but first or second, yet this poll lists Thompson as 4th, five points behind McCain. Put simply this ARG poll looks to be a...

Rudy Giuliani got a standing ovation when he walked in and another when he walked out, and his lone heckler even waited until his speech was over to pipe up. Despite a scathing union video questioning his handling of Sept.11, Giuliani got a warm welcome here yesterday at the South Carolina Fire-Rescue Conference. And that may help the ex-mayor hose down the effort by firefighter foes to raise doubts about the 9/11 hero status that has made him a serious Republican White House contender. Giuliani commiserated with the audience here about the deaths of nine Charleston firefighters in a warehouse...

Tom Ravenel 57%; Grady Patterson 41%

State Rep. Ralph Norman, after being wooed for six months by top state and national Republicans, says he will decide by early next week whether to take on longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt in 2006.

You guys should check this group out. I met one of their members out in Ohio working with a congressional candidate. They knew what they were doing and I was impressed but i didn't realize that Alex had his own team until yesterday. I looked at their website its got some really solid ideas in terms of strategy. Check it out: http://www.vandenberg-strategies.com

Sanford shows us meaning of accomplishment Posted Friday, July 8, 2005 The Greenville News Some legislators in Columbia declared upon the end of the recent session that Gov. Mark Sanford achieved a very short list of accomplishments. They instructed the governor to learn to compromise and work with the Legislature in order to achieve his goals in Columbia. Some warned him that time is running out and some even labeled him irrelevant. The naysayers in the General Assembly misplace the burden. They insist that the governor bears responsibility for altering his course of action. I believe the exact opposite must...

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2004 US Senate Elections These are the states I am watching: Florida: I believe that Martinez will help Bush here. I think Cubans that are having doubts about Bush will support him when they vote for Martinez. I think most Hispanics would like to have Martinez representing them and that will push him past Castor. Castor comes off very old and too loyal to the “party.” And she is in real trouble when she has to explain about how she handled the “terrorist professor” when she was the president of USF. She has been around in politics for over ten...

Our Three (Senate) Amigos (10/21/04 email sent to Club For Growth Members by CFG President Stephan Moore) As we write this, the presidential election and a half dozen Senate races appear headed to a photo finish. We’re working virtually 24/7 to make sure our candidates are victorious on November 2nd. I hope that you don’t mind if we continue to update you on the very highest priority races. These are the candidates who we think are shining stars AND are in desperate need of 11th hour donations because their races are so tight. The outcomes of these elections could decide...

Gannett Fails One-Newspaper Communities/Counties- Port Huron Times Herald a Queue for Government Intervention? In particular, with today’s concentration of all reporting medium with just a few companies- who determines the void or lack of reporting in the best interest to citizens. I’ve challenged a Gannett newspaper, the Times Herald of Port Huron Michigan of its obligation citizens in one-newspaper counties. There appears to be an immediate need to make certain legislation be brought requiring corporate newspapers to better report news and serving the communities they cover. At a crucial time with the 2004 Primary literally days away- this particular newspaper,...

The poll of 600 likely Republican voters in St. Clair County Michigan’s State Representative District 81 countywide found Alloway leading Pavlov by 12 points, 48 percent to 40 percent in a three-way race with Yale Republican Steve Pray Nader included in the ballot test.

“A Michigan Impossible until we work together ending illegal state house electioneering practices” Joe Alloway-R Michigan House District 81 St. Clair County Michigan PORT HURON – JULY 11, 2004 - Please listen to a recent interview (http://66.92.134.175/~benburch/old/TrupianoShow-(10-5-2004).mp3) exposing Michigan’s #1 area to reform and that’s ending illegal activities in Michigan’s House Republican Caucus Communications Office! Very few citizens asked have no idea of what that word means. Folks, the bottom line is we’ve had some major problems in this antiquated, 50-person staffed office and they’re just coming public. Take recent revelations of state employees assigned to representatives as campaign managers...

I just got back last week from driving across the country, I live in Washington State and drove to PA in see my wifes family and took I-80 and I-90 back home. With my Bush/Cheney sticker from 2000 in my back window along with my W-04 sticker I got a aproviel rating of about 75% judging from the honks and thumbs ups from fellow drivers. Funny how I got the 1 finger salute from the folks with the Kerry stickers. My question to you is do you vent your hate and anger at fellow drivers on the road with a...

Last night, I was told that a report was recently published by some DC think-tank. This report ranked members of congress in order of taxpayer-friendliness, i.e. it examined their votes on tax-related bills and determined where any particular member of congress came in on higher or lower taxes for their constituents. The same person who told me about the report told me that a whopping 75% of house and senate members from my state were in the top 20 LEAST friendly to taxpayers in their voting records. Have any of you heard of this report? Can you point me to...