The People's Champ?

According to an article in The Hill (courtesy of imwithfred.com), Fred Thompson may very well be that.

They delved into Fred Thompson's June fundraising numbers of $3.4 million from over 9,000 donors. Many saw this as a sign of a struggling campaign, but let's see where those funds came from.

- Over 7,500 donors made their contributions online
- 6,888 made donations of less than $200.00

This is an indication that the actual electorate, and not just big-money/special-interest donors, that are contributing to Thompson's campaign. Now, if you look further...

- No telephone support
- No direct mail
- Only 2 fundraising events during the whole month
- Only 18% of the fundraising money was actually spent in June

So really, it's been the internet and word-of-mouth (which is controlled more by the electorate than anything else) that has been driving the Thompson campaign. From what I understand, this money will be used as we ramp up into pre-primary season, which would give Thompson an edge when it comes to "cash-on-hand" if he continues to be wise with these campaign dollars he's receiving now.

Now, many more fundraising events were held during the month of July, so it will be interesting to see what kind of a difference those events will have on the fundraising numbers. However, I truly believe that this is one campaign that the people, above anything else, have been driving and will continue to drive as we plow our way through these slow, sweaty summer months and into the pre-primary season.