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Fred’s Founders seek $4.6M |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 06/06/07 09:12 PM [ET] |
They’re called the First-Day Founders, and they constitute the initial fundraising infrastructure for ex-Sen. Fred Thompson’s (R-Tenn.) White House bid.
The founding group is made up of 100 people, each of whom ponied up the primary maximum $2,300 on June 1, the day
Friends of Fred Thompson Inc., the former senator’s exploratory committee, filed with the Tennessee secretary of state, allowing the committee to start raising money.
The First-Day Founders took part in a conference call Friday, during which they were asked to raise a total of $46,000 for the effort, according to a source in Nashville.
That amount reflects 20 donors maxing out the federally allowed $2,300 for a primary campaign. And if the First-Day Founders come through, Thompson presumably would start off with $4.6 million in “seed money.”
But Thompson apparently believes he has some catching up to do. Longtime supporter Barbara Outhier, a Republican grassroots organizer and contributor, said Thompson called her and asked her to begin recruiting volunteers for the effort because the campaign will be behind in fundraising.
The Nashville source added that bumper stickers advocating Thompson’s advocacy have been flying off the shelves, going to 47 states with especially heavy buys in Arizona, home to presidential candidate and Thompson friend Sen. John McCain (R).
Speculation has been rampant as of late that the former senator is all but in the race, having filed for an exploratory committee last week, and such aggressive fundraising efforts seem to support that notion.
Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo did not return calls for comment Tuesday afternoon, but Thompson was scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel following last night’s debate among the current field in New Hampshire.
Analysts and state lawmakers continued to speculate that Thompson would not announce before the end of the second filing period so as not to look financially weak compared to candidates who have had more time to raise funds.
Some analysts questioned whether Thompson’s late entry might hinder him in a crowded field, especially when heavyweight Tennessee fundraisers such as Ted Welch and Fred Smith, two of President Bush’s so-called Pioneers, have signed on with rival campaigns.
Welch, a Nashville businessman and longtime Republican contributor, has signed on with Romney and told The Hill yesterday he will not renege on that commitment.
Welch said he has been approached by some of the Volunteer State’s political heavyweights about throwing his support behind Thompson’s run, but despite his friendship with Thompson, he said he would not switch allegiances.
Smith, the founder of FedEx, is national co-chairman of McCain’s campaign.
While a number of the state’s big-time fundraisers already have picked a horse, Welch and state lawmakers said Thompson has the star power to mount an extraordinary online and grassroots fundraising campaign.
Welch said that despite his late start, Thompson will be the favorite in the state, and his Hollywood stardom and Tennessee following could translate to an online fundraising explosion like the one Democratic National Committee Chairman and former presidential candidate Howard Dean experienced in 2003.
But Welch added, “He has a lot of catching up to do on the financial side.”
State GOP Chairman Bob Davis said “there is no question” Thompson quickly will be able to raise a lot of money both in and out of the state. With bases in Tennessee, Virginia and California, Davis said the former senator will not struggle for early cash.
Some of those grassroots campaigns took shape months ago in the form of draft movements, and they have been raising money as well.
The website www.GrassrootsVoter.com says that it has signed 17,000 volunteers from all 50 states, and the draft Thompson site, www.Fred08.com, is also requesting donations. Calls and e-mails made to both groups were not returned by press time.
State Rep. Jason Mumpower (R), minority leader of the Tennessee Statehouse, said a number of the 44 state House members and 17 state senators backing Thompson have begun the process of reaching out to the private sector in search of donations.
“The excitement is palpable,” Mumpower said. “The process has started.”
Several state Republicans contacted by The Hill said Thompson talk dominated the party’s annual Statesmen’s Dinner Saturday night even though potential rival former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) was the keynote speaker.
Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, said it is difficult to determine how much of former Sen. Bill Frist’s (R) fundraising infrastructure Thompson can tap. After the two were both elected in 1994 — Thompson in a special election — there was always a two-year gap between them.
That gap suggests there was a lot of overlap between the two as they raised money in the state. But Oppenheimer did say that while the two served together, Thompson “overshadowed” Frist until the former left the Senate for Hollywood and the latter was anointed Senate majority leader.
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