Thompson, Vilsack pitch longshot candidacies in Las Vegas
(Published Friday, February 2, 2007 11:47:57 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Kathleen Hennessey Associated Press
LAS VEGAS - Presidential hopefuls Tommy Thompson and Tom Vilsack pitched their long-shot candidacies at an auto industry convention Friday, where they split on Iraq policy but agreed on the importance of the Iowa caucuses in crowning underdog nominees.
"It is very clear I have to win Iowa, there's no getting around it," said Vilsack, a Democrat and former Iowa governor whose home state caucus is a historical springboard to the nomination. Nevada's caucus follows five days later, on Jan. 19.
Thompson, a former Republican governor from Wisconsin and secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, mentioned Jimmy Carter come-from-behind win in Iowa in describing his strategy.
"I believe, when you look at ideas, look at solutions, I don't think there's any candidate who can offer better solutions and ideas than I can," Thompson said.
Both Vilsack and Thompson acknowledged their bids have been overshadowed by better known candidates, including Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Republican former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Only Vilsack and Thompson accepted the invitation to Friday's political forum sponsored by USA Today and hosted by the paper's Washington bureau chief, Susan Page.
"With due respect to the media, it has a tendency to cover just a few rock stars, but for those of us who are rock solid we don't get as much attention," Vilsack told the crowd gathered for a convention hosted by J.D. Power & Associates.
Thompson said he supports President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Iraq, and said he believes the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made progress in recent weeks.
But Thompson said he believes the president has until the fall to make the "surge" plan work, and said he doesn't believe the next president will be facing these decisions.
"The decisions about pulling out are going to be all decided by the time the next president is sworn into office in 2009," he said.
Vilsack opposes the president's plan and said a nonbinding resolution expressing opposition that's being considered in Congress doesn't go far enough.
"It's time to have the Iraqis assume full responsibility for security," Vilsack said. "It's time to take our troops home, bring them home, bring them home now."
The two former Midwestern governors said they believe a nominee from the Midwest has a better shot of winning in November 2008, and even joked about sharing a ticket. Vilsack, however, said he's facing a hurdle in courting voters on his home turf.
"It's an interesting thing about Midwestern folks. ... Sometimes it's hard for us to visualize that one of our own could actually be thinking about running for president," he said. "The opportunity to be on stage with Gov. Thompson and others will allow me the opportunity to make that case."
It's still unclear how many opportunities Vilsack will have onstage with his party's front-runners.
The Clinton and Obama campaigns have pushed national Democratic leaders to limit the number of political forums and debates held in key states.
Only Vilsack and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have agreed to attend the next political forum in Nevada, on Feb. 21 in Carson City. Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joe Biden, D-Del., have put the event on their schedules, but are still negotiating the details of the format, said Kirsten Searer, spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, a forum sponsor.
