Mark Towner's Spyglass Spots: Fred Thompson Tries Retail Politics

Fred Thompson Tries Retail Politics
By PHILIP ELLIOTT – 8 hours ago

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson left a trail of half-empty coffee cups and barely sipped Diet Pepsis on Sunday as he jumped into the kind of person-to-person political campaigning that voters here demand.

On his first swing across New Hampshire as a declared candidate, Thompson visited bars and restaurants where voters watched football and drank beer. Some asked about immigration, the economy and politics.

He even signed a magazine that featured him on the cover with the headline, "Lazy Like a Fox."
"I'm going to lose more weight on this thing. I'll never get close enough to food to eat it," the former Tennessee senator joked with the throng of reporters and photographers chasing him.

Thompson faces some obstacles in states that vote early in the presidential primary process, like New Hampshire. His rivals have spent considerable time and money building organizations here and meeting with voters as they like it — one on one and in small groups.
He pledged Sunday to play catch-up.

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