Tommy Thompson: Iowa Straw Poll or Bust

Republican Presidential Candidate has laid his candidacy on the line in terms of the Iowa Straw Poll.

All Headline News reports:

Tommy Thompson has declared the Republican Ames straw poll in Iowa is “very much a must win” for his presidential campaign.

In an interview expected to be broadcast on C-SPAN this weekend, the Republican former Wisconsin governor and Bush administration secretary of health and human services, said he has campaigned in the Hawkeye State “more often than any other candidate” seeking the presidency in 2008.

“I have not missed being there since the first week in December,” Thompson said, according to USA Today. “I’ve been in 52 counties now out of 99 and will be in all 99 before August 11. And I think that’s what you have to do.”

It’s been a challenging campaign thus far for Thompson, with him working harder than any other candidate in Iowa, but with very few results to show for it. Moreover, this seems to be the rhetoric of someone who needs a miracle to just stay in the race at this point. Given the importance of money and organization in the Iowa Straw Poll, I think it’s fair to say a Thompson win would be a major upset over Romney; I even would be moderately surprised (but not shocked) if Thompson even beat either Huckabee or Brownback.

This might be the first sign that Thompson is on the way out of the campaign; he’s even put off his report to the FEC of his finances until August 13, two days after the straw poll. Should he decide to withdraw from the race immediately after the poll, he presumably would not have to file that report.

He’s not giving up without a fight however: he plans a massive campaign push in late July and easrly AUgust in Iowa, visiting the 45 counties in Iowa he has not yet visited.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user millhollin]

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