If you've been following the news lately, you already know that there is a REAL OPENING for Fred in the Iowa Caucuses. While Mitt Romney's poll numbers in Iowa are meandering and Mike Huckabee's are dropping fast in Iowa and nationally, the last three weekly Strategic Vision polls show Fred with steady and solid upward momentum in Iowa. The December 18th poll has Fred at 16%--up 3 points from his number one week earlier:



In order to capitalize on this momentum, we've assembled a hardy band of 14 Young Professional and FredHead volunteers prepared to brave this brutal winter weather and drive all the way to Iowa to volunteer for Fred Thompson on the eve of the Iowa Caucuses.

The group will be leaving on Friday, December 28th and returning on Tuesday, January 1st.

All of these volunteers are making sacrifices to go on this trip. In addition to the time and effort involved, there will be a significant expense in travel and lodging. Because of the expenses, several of the volunteers will only be able to go if they can get financial help.

If you can help these folks out with covering the cost of the trip, it would be a big help to them--and, most importantly, to Fred's campaign.

We've set up a special account at Fred08.com just for this trip. You can donate via this LINK.

Anything you can give, even $10 or $20, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

There is an effort underway to recruit FredHead volunteers to head up to Iowa at the end of December to support Fred's ground team up there.

The current plan is to head out on Friday, December 28th and to return to Texas on Tuesday, January 1st.

This is a huge opportunity to make a BIG IMPACT for Fred.

If you're interested in being involved, please drop us a line ASAP.

Posted at Rush's site:

the genuine moderate as opposed to conservative aspects of three of the top-tier, four of the top-tier candidates were on full-fledged display last night. There was one candidate who did not display any moderateness or liberalism or have any of his past forays into those areas displayed, and that candidate was Fred Thompson. %u2026 %u2026we have a campaign now where most of the candidates are not genuine conservatives. They may be saying they are, but in their past they have done some things that are not conservative in any way, shape, manner, or form %u2014 and I think a lot of those things are being overlooked even by friends of mine in the conservative media because the obsession is Hillary. [%u2026]

While everybody is talking about Fred Thompson, %u201CHe%u2019s too lazy. He%u2019s too lackadaisical. He doesn%u2019t seem to have whole lot of energy.%u201D Fine and dandy. I%u2019m not going to argue with people about your perceptions of attitudes and so forth. I will say this. I don%u2019t think anybody would get into this mess running for the presidency, the media and all of these things. You can%u2019t imagine what these people go through. You wouldn%u2019t want to go through it, and I can%u2019t imagine somebody put themselves through it if they really don%u2019t want it. You know, one of the arguments about Fred Thompson is, %u201CWell, I can%u2019t see the fire in his belly.%u201D Well, he%u2019s got a different personality than the others. We%u2019ll just have to see how all this shakes out. But those are the high points that I took.

From Roy Beck of Numbers USA:

IN A TREND OF INCREASINGLY DETAILED EXCELLENT POLICY PROMISES BY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES -- THOMPSON HAS SET A NEW HIGH STANDARD

When Fred Thompson came out with a detailed immigration policy this fall, I knew it was very good but was too busy leading the fight against amnesties in the Senate to give thorough attention.

Reading Thompson's full proposed immigration policy this afternoon, I am blown away by its depth, its breadth and at how it would so fundamentally change Americans' future for the better.

Read more of Roy's analysis below...

Posted at USA Today:

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans surveyed nationally said they favored Giuliani in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, followed by Fred Thompson with 19%, John McCain with 13%, Mitt Romney with 12%, Huckabee with 10%, Ron Paul with 5%, Tom Tancredo with 2% and Duncan Hunter with 1%.

Giuliani's number is a full eight points below a Gallup poll of Nov. 2-4 and is his lowest number in the poll since last December. Thompson picked up 2 points, McCain lost 5, Romney lost 2 points, and Huckabee and Paul both picked up 4 points in the new survey.

How do Mitt Romney's immigration claims stack up against the facts? Not so well:

Mitt Romney casts himself as tough on illegal immigration in a new ad in which he says that, as Massachusetts governor, "I authorized the State Police to enforce immigration laws." He doesn't mention that his order never took effect. It came in the closing days of his administration and was rescinded by his successor, as we wrote back in August.

He also promises, "As president, I'll . . . cut funding for sanctuary cities." Maybe so, but as governor he took no action against several such towns in his state.

We find Romney misleading on both counts.

Ouch.

Posted at RasmussenReports.com;

Mitt Romney has extended his lead in the Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus for 2008 and three candidates are virtually tied for second place.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the race shows Romney with support from 29% of Likely Caucus Participants. Trailing the frontrunner by thirteen percentage points is Mike Huckabee who enjoys support from 16%. In a virtual tie for second with Huckabee are Rudy Giuliani at 15% and Fred Thompson at 14%.

Via Savannah Morning News:

Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson has soared to a nearly 2-to-1 lead over his closest Republican rival in the latest statewide poll.

In survey results announced Wednesday by Strategic Vision, the former U.S. senator from Tennessee led Rudy Giuliani, 39 percent to 20 percent.

Thompson added 4 percentage points to the advantage he enjoyed over the former New York mayor in a Strategic Vision poll taken last month.

All the other Republican candidates are in single digits.