The Fred bashing memo must be making the rounds, as the ankle-biting attacks continue without abatement. Although the latest Rasmussen poll shows Thompson virtually tied with Rudy Giuliani among Republican voters, Jonathan Martin at The Politico nonetheless blares in his headline that “Thompson struggles as launch looms”. Martin trumpets the usual litany of anti-Thompson complaints, including claims that he hasn’t raised enough funds, questions about his seriousness and over-hyped reporting on staff turnover.

Ed Kilgore at The Democratic Strategist echoes Martin’s complaints:

These problems include a whole host of staff departures; infrequent and lackluster candidate appearances; and most of all, money shortages. Even Thompson himself is sending out signals that fundraising isn’t going that well. And potential donors can’t be too happy about writing checks to pay for staff who are likely to hit the bricks after a few weeks of exposure to the proto-campaign.

None of these particular complaints are wrong, but context is lacking and their importance is vastly overstated. The simple fact is that most of the electorate is not paying attention right now. All of this is warm-up. When the game really gets going, what happens now will be overwhelmed in importance by what happens in the coming months. If Thompson was only polling around 10% in the polls these problems might be enough to convince people he’s not a serious candidate. But he’s not and they aren’t. Despite the best efforts of those frightened by a Thompson campaign, his is neither struggling nor slouching.

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