In the presidential campaign season, the field of candidates is represented by two separate and arguably unimportant groups: the candidates who fill the space between Rudy Giuliani’s comments during debate after debate and the one candidate who makes the race for the GOP nomination interesting.
Yes, Fred Thompson, Mr. Never Too Late To Enter The Race, will be announcing his candidacy next week, but he has backed out of a Charleston visit after catching criticism for not visiting Greenville, the home planet of conservatives (or the nutty compound, depending on your politics).
Yesterday, Thompson announced that he’d be visiting Charleston and Columbia on the last two stops of his announcement tour. That move put Republican bloggers in a tizzy.
Rule No. 1 when trying to win the South Carolina primary as a Republican presidential candidate: If you do nothing else, you MUST campaign in Greenville and Spartanburg Counties.
Their emphasis, not mine. Well, the schedule has been changed. This late in the campaign, I’d say that Thompson needs to go anywhere that will offer him airtime.
UPDATE: Editing changs noted in comments. As Ana Marie Cox of TIme (formerly Wonkette) says, I’ve got editors — hundreds of them.
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