Thompson Indicates Announcement is Imminent, Others Question Campaign's Strength

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The initial email, carrying a signature from Thompson himself, read, in part:

“During this 'testing the waters' effort we've undertaken, I've been saying the political waters feel pretty warm. It's allowed us to start laying the foundation of a good team across the country and to keep up this national conversation we've been having. Now we're going to take that conversation to a different level.”

Another email from organizers later in the week seemed to indicate the exploratory campaign was entering the final stages, and an official kick off would soon follow.

But for supporters, this isn't the first time they have heard rumblings about an “official” start to the campaign. In May, many media outlets and observers believed Thompson would make a formal announcement on July 4th, an announcement which never materialized. While the on-again-off-again nature of the campaign has left many scratching their heads, it is likely a strategy of the larger design of a “different kind of campaign.”

This latest round of supporter emails hit just as Robert Novak reports that Thompson is holding his first Washington, D.C. Area fund raiser on Monday, another sign that the campaign is ramping up efforts to acquire legitimacy. On the other end of the momentum spectrum – and on the same day – John McCain is hosting a fund raiser to try to keep his presidential hopes alive. McCain's camp has been severely injured by a flood of staff resignations, and it seems highly unlikely to many political observers that McCain's campaign can survive the loses. Several recent items – including one here at Digital Journal – have even drawn the conclusion that McCain staffers are jumping ship hoping to land in the Thompson camp.

Other reports are describing the Thompson campaign's own personnel turmoil. A number of Thompson staffers – including a top aide, a key researcher, and several others, according to published reports – walked away from the organization this week. Their leaving caused a stir among the blogs and email lists of other top GOP candidates. Supporters of other candidates wondered aloud if the Thompson exodus was a mirror of McCain's troubles, and an indicator of a campaign in trouble. Some even questioned the role of Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, speculating that she has ruffled the feathers of men twice her age by expecting them to treat her as a political equal.

For his part, Thompson has been insistent that he will run a campaign on his own timetable and without pressure to conform to the political play book. This slow creeping toward an official announcement is just one indicator that he is dedicated to that principle, even when it makes supporters a bit anxious. One electronic message to supporters this week urged patience as the pieces of the campaign continue to fall into place. “Keep in mind,” the message read, “that once the team is complete, everything will be in place to begin the campaign in earnest.”