Another defection from the Thompson campaign--off to a great start

[Lobster Martini]

(LM: The loyalty that this man inspires is heartwarming…if you’re a Democrat. If he has any staff left, it’s only because he’s locked the doors from the inside. It won’t be long before Freddie is alone at midnight in a dark, empty room drinking Manhattans and yelling at the drywall: “Federalism, dammit! It’s all about Federalism…It’s…I’m falling…I can’t get up…uhhh…”)

This is from Bloomberg:

Thompson Top Campaign Aide Corallo Resigns in Shakeup (Update1)

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Another top aide resigned from Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson's campaign, as the former Tennessee senator made his White House bid official.

Mark Corallo, who resigned yesterday, according to a campaign official, was one of the first people to join Thompson. Corallo served as a spokesman and early strategist. Thompson formally declared his candidacy in a video posted on his Web site just after midnight today.

Corallo's resignation follows the departure of spokesman Jim Mills and comes just days after Thompson's communications director and another spokeswoman left the campaign. Thompson in recent months also lost acting campaign manager Tom Collamore and several other aides.

"There appears to be something dysfunctional inside the Thompson campaign," said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "He has been hemorrhaging staff pretty consistently without any explanation."

<snip>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=abY0FnJcaMqo&refer=home

[flpoljunkie]

1. CNN's John King said that Thompson's Iowa crowd today was quite small. Guess shine worn off already!

[calimary]

5. Really? They aren't flocking to "Phone-it-in-freddy"?

That's not mine, btw - another DUer came up with that moniker!

I wonder if that reflects the impact his passing on the debate last night to go straight to Jay Leno and collect 200 dollars (or whatever). If I were a republi-CON voter and I wanted to have a good overview of where all the candidates stood, and a brand new bona fide candidate arrived on the scene but passed on his first opportunity to join the debate, that would leave me with a sour taste in my mouth and quite unfavorably predisposed. And, believe me, if the Grumpy Old Poot had wanted in at the last minute, the organizers and broadcasters and the rest of the party campaign infrastructure would have found a way to make room for him last night. If nothing else, for the fresh news and marquee value alone.

[TwilightGardener]

6. I saw that too--that Obama was drawing TWICE as many during

a workday. Guess folks in Iowa weren't all that excited. If he doesn't draw curious crowds now, when he's launching a campaign, what will it be like in December?

[flpoljunkie]

7. NYT's article said he drew only 200 to 300 in the Convention Complex in Des Moines.

Must have been a lot of empty seats!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/us/politics/06cnd-thompson.html?hp

[TwilightGardener]

8. Sounds like they're being generous with an extra one hundred...

[rinsd]

2. See Fred Thompson in "The Campaign that Never Was".

[Lobster Martini]

3. Gone from The Hunt for Red October to The Hunt for a Red State That Will Vote For Me

(n/t)

[Yukari Yakumo]

4. Answer: The Bible Belt {nt}

uguu