Thompson Campaign Press Release - Local and State Press Report "Enthusiastic Response" to Thompson Campaign

"Several hundred gather for Fred Thompson's first Upstate visit" (Associated Press Headline, 9/10/07)

"GOP presidential contender Fred Thompson told an overflow crowd in a suburban Greenville hotel ballroom this morning that he would reform the tax code, promote free trade and provide America with hard-edged security screen." (Dan Hoover, Greenville News, 9/10/07)

"Fred. Thompson stepped into friendly territory today and received the sort of welcome his campaign was counting on in the South.

"The Republican presidential hopeful entered a hotel conference room to thunderous applause from the largest crowd at an indoor event so far in his days-old campaign.

"As Thompson spoke of the need for national security, fiscal conservatism and decreasing the power of the federal government, the crowd answered with calls of 'Amen' and 'that's right.'" (The-Leaf Chronicle (Tenn.), 9/10/07)

"But even though his campaign is in its first week, Thompson has been building suspense as good as - if not better - than any television or movie script." (Spartanburg Herald-Journal, 9/10/07)

"Fred Thompson showed off some of the acting star power that people believe will making him a formidable candidate for the Republican nomination for president this morning with a speech that sparked some of the most enthusiastic response in the three-day tour of Iowa that is kicking off his campaign." (The Tennessean, 9/9/07).

"Ruth Griffin, a former [NH] state legislator and former Republican National Committee member, said she was 'extremely impressed,' noting Mr. Thompson was 'speaking off the cuff.' 'He certainly has great charisma,' she said." (Chattanooga Times-Free Press, 9/9/07)

"It may have taken Fred Thompson longer than others to hit the campaign trail, but the latest candidate to enter the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination made a good first impression in front of a crowd of more than 300 Saturday morning in Cedar Rapids." (The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9/8/07)

"On the third day of his campaign, Thompson, an actor and former two-term U.S. senator from Tennessee, drew frequent applause and cheers as he called for a 'national conversation' about the issues facing the nation in the coming years." (Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9/8/07)

"U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett of Westminster, Thompson's highest-profile South Carolina ally, said the delay was both well-timed for a public just now tuning in the race and reflective of Thompson. 'The so-called experts were saying, 'You need to get in now and do this, do that.' He said the time isn't right, he's willing to buck the system to run his own race,' Barrett said." (Greenville News, 9/10/07)

"'The real presidential campaign begins now, in September,' Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, wrote last week in his online newsletter, The Crystal Ball. 'Real people, even most activist voters, do not make up their minds on a presidential choice until they have to.'" (Greenville News, 9/10/07)