Unofficial GOP candidate Fred
Thompson, who according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll,
came in a close second behind the current leader, Rudy Giuliani -- and beat
everyone, including Giuliani, among self-described "religious right" voters
-- may be in danger of losing supporters because of his record.
In the June 25 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, June 18),
Correspondent Holly Bailey reports that the charismatic and down to earth
potential GOP candidate has avoided the kind of scrutiny his rivals have
faced. But as he prepares to become an official candidate, his record in
Washington will be given a closer look, and conservative voters
disappointed to find that Thompson has been on the other side of some of
their most important issues, including abortion and campaign fund-raising.
Combing through Thompson's archive, Newsweek found several files on his
campaign strategy on abortion that could roil his 2008 bid. On a 1994 Eagle
Forum survey, Thompson said he opposed criminalizing abortion. Two years
later, on a Christian Coalition questionnaire, he checked "opposed" to a
proposed constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of human life. In
a campaign policy statement filed in the archives, he also said he believes
"the decision to have an early term abortion is a moral issue and should
not be a legal one subject to the dictates of the government." During an
interview with the Conservative Spectator, a Tennessee newspaper, he
claimed to be pro-life but also said that, "The ultimate decision on
abortion should be left with the woman and not the government."
Thompson drew the ire of his party in 1997 when he was appointed to
lead hearings into Democratic fund-raising abuses in the 1996 campaign, and
then broadened his investigation to look into alleged abuses by Republicans
as well. This probe left him on the outs with GOP heavyweights and it is
still unclear whether his public efforts to make amends will be accepted or
backfire.
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