Thompson becomes more aggressive in Iowa

By: Ben Adler
Jan 1, 2008




In recent days, Fred Thompson has become increasingly aggressive as he tries to build his support in Iowa by taking it out of the Republican right flank, particularly from front-runners Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

There isn’t any evidence that it is working on typical Iowans — the latest Des Moines Register poll has him dropping to a fourth-place tie with Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

And he’s strapped for cash; he recently appealed to supporters to help him raise enough money to get television ads back up in Iowa.

But Thompson is trying to convince likely caucus-goers that he is the truest conservative.

The former senator from Tennessee has oriented his whole bus tour around marketing his right-wing credentials.

And it appears from campaign events that his remaining potential supporters are hard-core conservatives – people deciding between him and the two GOP front-runners, especially Huckabee.

Bill Salier, for example, served as Tom Tancredo’s state chairman before the Colorado congressman dropped out of the race.

A staunch conservative, Salier’s top two issues are abortion (he is strongly against abortion rights) and immigration (he wants to stem the influx of undocumented immigrants).

Tancredo, then, was a natural fit, and Salier committed to him before Thompson entered the race.

But when Tancredo dropped out and endorsed Mitt Romney, Salier didn’t follow.

To Salier's mind, the former Massachusetts governor was too soft on abortion and immigration, so he joined Thompson’s campaign.

Since then, he has been on the trail for Thompson in Iowa, introducing the candidate at a supporter’s house in Hampton on Sunday and at a radio town hall Monday morning in Charles City.

Despite recent polls, Salier contends that conservative voters who have flocked to Huckabee are beginning to shift toward Thompson as they become more familiar with Huckabee’s views.

“People are starting to recognize there’s some liberalism there, some populist statements,â€