Solid first spot from Big Fred Thompson. The spot that counts is the :60, which is a smart but expensive move. Conventional wisdom is to always use :30's to deliver the same number of spots to the voter audience for half the money. But doing a :60 gives Fred plenty of time to roll along in his slow, aw-shucks style and still punch out a series of good message points.
The :30 version is weaker; Fred needs the time the :60 gives him. If the campaign is smart they'll put their money behind the :60, using him in a way that gets as much as possible from his amblin'-down-the-ol'-briar-patch style. Although Thompson is vulnerable on the 100 percent pro-life stuff - he has yet to clearly explain what specific pro-life legislation he'd support at the state level - the overall message in the ad is strong and the spot is very well produced. It will do him plenty of good among Iowa caucus goers.
If Fred shows a little trail spark to go along with such strong advertising he'll start moving up in Iowa. That'll earn him a real shot at one of the three tickets out of Iowa and on to the big show. All of this is bad news for Huckabee and Rudy. Huckabee because Fred's message will cut into his campaign a bit and Rudy because he also badly needs that third slot out of Iowa, despite the Giuliani campaign's crocodile-tear-filled claims that they are not working the caucus.
