The Blue State

Tommy Thompson set great example for the GOP

After a sixth place finish at the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, GOP presidential candidate Tommy Thompson will likely call it quits from the race, reports the Des Moines Register on Sunday:

Thompson could exit the race as early as Sunday.

"Clearly it'll be difficult for the campaign to continue," said Thompson's Iowa adviser, Steve Grubbs.

Grubbssaid Thompson will likely go to church Sunday, like he always does, andcontemplate his future. An announcement will come later Sunday orMonday, his aide said.

And it is a shame.  Tommy Thompson was the most progressive Republican candidate in the race.  He acknowledged that Bush's war policy in Iraq was not working, and supported partition -- similar to what Joe Biden proposed.  Read this tough talk from Thompson's appearance in June on an Iowa radio station:

"If you keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, thathas a degree of insanity stapled with it and that is exactly what we'redoing," Thompson says. "Eight and a half billion dollars a month and westill do not have a plan on how we're going to win the war or win thepeace."

On the domestic front, Thompson had a lot of progressive ideas, such as increased funding for research to cure breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer.  Just as impressive, during his speech in Iowa yesterday, he proposed reforming our health care system to focus more on preventive care:

Thompson, also a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services,said he would also promote changes in the health care system that focusmore on illness prevention than treatment.

"Ninety percent ofhealth care dollars go to wait until people get sick in the hospital orthe nursing home," he said. "Let's change it to aggressively keep youout of the hospital and out of the nursing home."

Sure, Tommy Thompson had his crazy right-wing moments, like when he said employers should have the right to fire workers based on their sexual orientation -- a statement he later retracted.  But overall, Thompson had the most progressive platform of any GOP candidate. It is difficult to see a Rockefeller Republican like Thompson leave the race.

With the exception of Ron Paul, we are now left with a polarized right-wing group of candidates obsessed with using fear about immigrants and the Middle East as talking points to get votes.

A number of GOP candidates may soon drop out

If Saturday's Republican straw poll in Iowa goes as expected, a few presidential candidates for president will bow out of the race next week.  One of the contenders on the bubble is Tommy Thompson, who, according to Congressional Quarterly, is expected to call it quits if he finishes lower than second place:

Thompson, who trails the other GOP contenders in both the polls andfundraising, has set the Iowa straw poll as a decision-point of sorts.His campaign argues that a win or even second place finish on Saturdaycould catapult Thompson’s candidacy into the upper tier of GOPhopefuls, drawing media attention that would allow him to bolster hiscoffers and continue in the race. If he fails to make it into the toptwo, however, Thompson has said he likely will drop from the field.

Yesterday on MSNBC, Tom Tancredo, another GOP candidate, also indicated it would be hard for him to justify staying in the race if he has a poor showing on Saturday.

Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain will not participate in the event on Saturday, which 40,000 people will attend at Iowa State University.  Mitt Romney is the front-runner.

Remember though, this is not a legitimate poll.  It is a gathering of GOP activists all across the state of Iowa.  People must pay a poll tax in order to get in.  In other words, it's a fundraising opportunity creatively disguised as a poll.  However, the traditional media is making this out to be a huge event, so if candidates like Tommy Thompson and Tom Tancredo don't do well, then the negative media attention is what would convince them to drop out of the race.

(Video) Thompson's hearing aide was not working

During the GOP debate last week, Tommy Thompson said that employers should have the right to fire workers just for being gay.  One day later, when HBO Real Time host Bill Maher called him on it, Thompson said he lost his hearing aide:

MODERATOR: If a private employer finds homosexuality immoral, should he be allowed to fire a gay worker?

THOMPSON: I think that is left up to the individual business.  I really sincerely believe that that is a issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be.

MODERATOR: So the answer is yes?

THOMPSON: Yes.
---------------------------------------------------

MAHER: You said yes.  You said  he should be able to fire a gay worker.

THOMPSON: Bill, help me out.  I did not hear the question properly.  My hearing aide was not working.

He pandered to the far right during the debate.  One night later, he pandered to the left-of-center audience.  Maher's audience may not have bought it.  But GOP audience did -- and that's all that matters, since they will be the ones voting.