Maryland for Fred Thompson

40 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
45 Days until the New Hampshire Primary
56 Days until the South Carolina Primary
66 Days until the Florida Primary

• Nashua Telegraph:
  

  Republican presidential candidate and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson talked tough for a bigger, stronger military and a robust defense of the rights of citizens to bear arms during two campaign stops Friday.

  And Thompson took a swipe at former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s bona fides on the Second Amendment during remarks he gave at Skip’s Gun & Sport Shop here.

  “(Giuliani) simply supported every gun control legislation that came down the pike,” Thompson charged.

  “I saw he was at bill-signing ceremonies with (New York Sen.) Chuck Schumer and President Clinton and others for gun-control legislation over the years. Of course, he’s not as outspoken about it as before.”

• GraniteGrok:
  

  He talked well and quickly during his opening remarks and certainly knew what he wanted to say. Speaking off the cuff, he did well in painting the pictures in the telling of his anecdotes, gesticulating widely. No hesitation at ALL and is quite smooth.

  You know, I’ve read and heard other folks talking about Fred’s laconic laid back style and the seemingly lack of fire in the belly attitude. While I cannot speak to that sentiment personally, I can definately say that there was no evidence of that here today. While this was a short stop consisting of a small amount of time for opening remarks and only 3 questions from the crowd, he seemed upbeat in a serious type of way (no, he was not bouncing around the stage) as he brought his defense and strength message to this bastion of veterans.

• Hot Air:
  

  Brilliant, as a quick scroll through the comments to the Rudy/NYC post from a few days ago will attest. This crack was ostensibly aimed at Giuliani’s gun control policies but Fred’s tapping into something much bigger here and he knows it….