On the Road Interview in Iowa

One of the things that Fred is doing in his bus trip around Iowa is giving interviews to local papers, TV news and radio in his bus. The Iowa Independent has published a good Q&A session that they had with Fred in the bus this last week.

There is one question and answer that I would like to quote here and then a brief comment:

Iowa Independent: You stayed in Carroll last night at the Super 8. Your first event started at 10 o'clock today. One of the knocks on you has been maybe that you're a little lazy. Why did you start your first event at 10 o'clock?

Thompson: First of all we had telephone interviews this morning in our room. We had briefings in our room. We got in last night from over in east Iowa. I don't know what time we finally got to bed but it was late last night. We've been doing I don't know how many events. We're going to do 50 towns and communities. You can catch us sometimes where there is a gap there. But if you look at the overall schedule you'll find it to be a very, very active one.

I don't have anything to prove to anybody.

I mean, you know, I actually like to read a little bit along the way. The first thing I do when I walk out is get asked about the president's news conference that he had this morning that I saw, and what's happened with the other candidates and comments that they've made, and sometimes disasters that have happened in various communities and shootings and so forth. I read and talk to people about that. Talk to them in the home office. Get my plan for the day and the information I need for the day.

Fred does something that some of his fellow candidates do not do: get updates on what is going on; read about what is going on; prepare for his public performances. Remember when Huck didn't know about the release of the Intelligence Update on Iran? He wasn't paying attention to what was going on. Do you remember all of the entries on Fred on Fact Check because he got facts wrong? No? That is because he is doing his homework so he gets the details right.

Maybe campaigning 24 hours a day isn't a good thing.