Fred Thompson napped his way through a presidential campaign. Rudy Guiliani decided to punt on first down for several consecutive drives. Last June, Giuliani and Thompson were tied for the Republican lead. Now they're on the sidelines, never having won a primary or caucus between them. In a lifetime of observing politics, I can't recall any presidential runs done more horribly. Who ran the worse campaign, Sleepy Fred or Rudy the Reluctant?

It is easy to explain Giuliani's campaign failure. He was being advised by neocons. His campaign was about as well run as the Iraq War.

I would say Rudy. The reason being I always got the sense that Fred never had a particularly strong desire to be President. He was drafted into the campaign based on two articles he wrote for National Review, and thought he'd give it a go, but I don't think he was exactly distraught when he wasn't nominated.

I think both campaigns were poorly run. In the case of Frd Thompson, he waited to long to commit to getting in the race. Once he did, he just did not seem to approach it vith the vigor taht some of his opponents did. Some of his supporters would say that he simply is more methodical than some of the other candidates and spends more time thinking about the issues than the others do and becuase he is methodical he doe not come accross as having "fire in the belly" determination. I'm not sure which one is correct. In any event, his percieved lack of passion along with his late entry into the race doomed his candidacy to failure.

In the case of Rudy Giuliana two basic things seem to have happened. 1.) Rudy's positions on many social issues are an anathema to many conservatives. Many conservatives would gag before they would vote for him. The main thing keeping his candidacy viable was he has generally been percieved as an excellent warrior against Islamic terrorism. With no terrorist attacks on American soil since 911, Iraq becoming more secure, at least for the moment, and the economy being in a precarious postion the terrorism issue has become less important. With Rudy's signature issue rendered less important to the voters many people have become unwilling to overlok his stances on various social issues. This along wtth his decsion not to shift to the right the way Mitt Romney has went along way to dooming his candidacy. 2.) Rudy chose not to campaign at all in the early primary states. This conceded valuable ground to his opponents and it sends the message to people in those states that they do not matter to him or his campaign.

I'm not entirely convinced that Fred will really wanted to be President. I suspect he may be angling for the Vice President position. I think Rudy really did want to be President. All in all it seems to me that Rudy's campaign was the poorest run.

In the final ana-lysis both campaigns seemed to be done half heartedly. There should be a lesson here. Campaigns, wars, or any ohter endeavor that anyone may wish to engage in cannot be conducted in a half hearted manner, if one wishes to be successful.

Huckcleberry runs a close second, but I would vote for any other of the Republican candidates before I'd vote for McCain.

I'd rather Huckabee win then Romney or McCain. He is more pro-life and wants to start moving away from income tax. Huckabee seems down-to-earth and trustworthy. Romney and McCain do not have these qualities.

Who ran the worse campaign, Sleepy Fred or Rudy the Reluctant?

Sleepy Fred. By a mile.

Rudy never had a chance. His was a phantom frontrunner status based on little more than national celebrity. When it came down to it, he was too liberal on social issues for the GOP. When he started to compete in any state (New Hampshire, South Carolina, and then Florida) he fell behind as GOP voters got to know the other candidates.

Fred, on the other hand, actually had a chance, and squandered it.

I agree with doug.

What amazes me is that Rudy's campaign didn't die sooner. Not one candidate said, at the debates, "Do you want to vote for someone who said he'd give his own daughter money to have an abortion?" Rudy's campaign died the death of a thousand cuts a week ago, but it could've been decapitated in the spring of last year. Just imagine the possibilities... Big chunks of Giuliani's base of support could've gotten behind a better candidate (who might be winning now, or have a decent shot now, because of it), and might have, if only someone in that race had actually put some serious effort into showing just how radically liberal Giuliani is on social issues. But they didn't put in that effort, and now we're all going to suffer because of it.