Fred Thompson shaky

I'm watching Thompson's speech live on C-Span at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Indianapolis and the feed just died due to lightning.

However, one word kept pounding in my head listening to it: unpolished. Thompson seemed tired and unable to put thoughts together in fluid sentences. The speech was halting and somewhat difficult to listen to.

This is all not necessarily a minus for the candidate. George W. Bush is painful to listen to as he is not a slick speaker, yet he won two presidential elections. The difference is however is twofold. First, Bush could communicate passion, convince you that he really believed in something. Second, he was running at a time when the Clinton slickness was in everyone's mind, and it provided a contrast that was to his benefit. Of course this was not the case the second time around, but the second time around point number one was more important.

In Thompson's case the adjective for him is folksy. And folksy plus inarticulate does not translate well on either of these points that accounted for candidate Bush being able to overcome his halting manner of speech. This is because Thompson is more reserved and because the comparison is with Bush and not a matter of Clinton fatigue.

I think I just witnessed why it has taken so long for the Thompson campaign to announce. He's been working on his stump speech. It needs a lot more work.