Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson campaigned on party front runner Rudy Giuliani’s home turf on Thursday, meeting with high-flying investment bankers, courting donors at a Manhattan fundraiser and criticizing the former mayor for holding less conservative views than his own.

“I disagree with the mayor on a number of issues,” said the former Tennessee senator turned actor.

The man who used to play the Manhattan district attorney Arthur Branch on “Law & Order” listed his differences with Giuliani over several legal matters, including his support in the past for New York’s status as a sanctuary city (allowing some protection for illegal immigrants), his support of abortion rights and advocacy of gun control.

Just how many people actually heard Thompson, however, remained unclear. He addressed a town hall meeting at JP Morgan Chase which, contrary to the typical open format of a White House hopeful trying to move up in the polls, was closed to the press.

Then he held a lunch fund-raiser, an event more typically closed to the media.

He held a press availability afterwards and briefly answered eight questions — a need to cut non-defense spending, his low poll numbers in Iowa, a need to enforce U.S. borders, to name a few –  before abruptly announcing he was done talking.

Then he was off to an evening fund-raiser in suburban Darien, Connecticut, again closed to the press.

Thompson supporter Al D’Amato, a former senator from New York, tried to explain the candidate’s style to reporters left looking for an angle to the day’s story.

“That’s his persona. He is a laid-back guy,” D’Amato said. “He has to raise money now. He’s playing catch-up. ”

– Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton (Thompson in Iowa earlier this week)

The stock answer by presidential candidates on poll numbers is they typically don’t put much faith in them — unless the numbers look good for them.
 
As Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton readies herself for the Las Vegas debate tonight after lackluster performance at the last one, her campaign issued a memo chock full of poll numbers showing how she would beat Democrats and Republicans.
 
The memo from pollster and strategist Mark Penn included about two dozen poll numbers that said voters preferred her over Barack Obama and John Edwards and that she would beat the Republicans including front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

Penn wrote:

For example, as the candidates prepare to meet in Nevada, a new poll there has Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 51 percent to 23 percent with 11 percent for John Edwards.  Clinton leads among Nevada likely caucus-goers on having the best chance of beating the Republican nominee in the general election (Clinton 63%, Obama 15%, Edwards 11%), being the strongest leader (Clinton 54%, Obama 21%, Edwards 14%), most qualified to be commander in chief (Clinton 51%, Obama 20%, Edwards 13%), most likely to bring needed change (Clinton 49%, Obama 28%, Edwards 11%), having taken clear positions on the issues (Clinton 42%, Obama 23%, Edwards 12%), saying what she believes rather than what voters want to hear (Clinton 41%, Obama 23%, Edwards 12%), most likeable (Clinton 40%, Obama 30%, Edwards 20%) and most honest (Clinton 37%, Obama 24%, Edwards 13%). …

… Hillary also leads Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. She leads Giuliani by 3 points in the Cook/RT Strategies poll, 6 points in the USA Today / Gallup poll, 6 points in the CNN poll, 10 points in the WNBC/Marist poll, 4 points in the Newsweek poll and 4 points in the ABC/Washington Post poll. Her advantage widens against other Republicans - to 9 points over McCain, 18 points over Romney and 16 points over Thompson in the ABC/Washington Post poll.

 Guess polls matter — well for now anyway….

– Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

You’ve got to give the Hillary Clinton campaign a point for creativity.
    
The New York senator’s campaign put on her Web site a quirky video explaining how the Iowa presidential nominating caucus works (see our more mundane explainer here).
 
The video’s theme is how participating in the caucus is easy while in comparison exercising is hard, showing Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, trying to exercise while being taunted by a juicy hamburger that he probably shouldn’t eat since he had heart problems a few years ago.
 
It also shows video clips of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack trying to dance and Hillary Clinton trying to belt out the Star-Spangled Banner — noting both are also hard while going to the caucus is easy and won’t take but an hour or so.
 
Clinton held a narrow lead in Iowa ahead of the Jan. 3 caucuses but has a wider margin in national opinion polls.

– Photo credit: Reuters/Joshua Lott

Sen. Barack Obama isn’t exactly going back to his roots, but in a nod to the Midwestern twist in his heritage, the Democratic presidential contender this week opened a campaign office this week in Kansas, the home state of his late mother Ann Dunham. 

The move makes the Illinois senator the first Democratic contender for the 2008 presidential nomination to set up shop in the traditionally Republican stronghold –President George W. Bush won the state’s six electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62 percent of the vote in 2004. 

The fact that the state has not supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964 has kept Kansas low on the priority list for presidential rivals from both parties. 

Indeed, even as presidential candidates have crisscrossing the nearby state of Iowa, Kansas has been a near dead-zone for the 2008 presidential election so far. But Obama’s campaign aims to change that.

His staff says getting the campaign underway early can give Obama, who is currently locked in a tight race for his party’s nomination with rivals Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards,  the advantage of a recent move to the middle in Kansas politics  and garner enough support to push him to the top of his party’s presidential ticket. 

An office with paid staffers opened in Lawrence, Kansas, Tuesday and a series of events are planned around the state to gear up for the state’s Feb. 5 Democratic caucus. 

“His mother was raised here and he has made a commitment to winning in the state,” said Stan Adams, a Kansas City marketing executive who is one of a handful of new Obama paid campaign staffers in Kansas whose marching orders are to promote his message across the farm state. 

“If anybody could win in Kansas on the Democractic side it is Barack Obama. He has appeal to moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats,” said Adams. “People call it a red state but… people are ready for a change.” 

State Republican Party political director Corrie Kangas disagreed — after she stopped laughing. 

“Could Kansas swing to a blue state? “Wow,” Kangas chuckled. “No… liberal is going to sell in Kansas.”  

– Photo credit: Reuters/Keith Bedford

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is probably feeling pretty good today.
 
A new CBS/New York Times poll puts him in second place in the early voting state of Iowa behind rival former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
 
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, came in second during the Iowa Straw Poll in August, though rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain did not participate. His strong showing there led some conservatives to take a closer look and he has seen his campaign contributions increase.
 
Or, as the wise-cracking Huckabee likes to say of his underdog status, “A dark horse is better than a dead horse.”
 
The survey found Huckabee receiving 21 percent support behind Romney, who led the field with 27 percent. When Iowa voters were asked who was their second choice, Huckabee and Giuliani tied at 17 percent.
 
However, the survey was not all good news for Huckabee. He received only 6 percent support in New Hampshire, whose presidential primary is expected to follow Iowa’s Jan. 3 vote by about five days.

Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Huckabee with his band at Iowa Straw Poll)

Republican national front-runner Rudy Giuliani says he doesn’t need to win in early primary voting states like New Hampshire in order to win his party’s presidential nomination.
 
But neither is he conceding the states, as evidenced by his campaign’s decision to run his first television advertisement in New Hampshire.
 
While leading in national polls, in the early primary voting state Giuliani has trailed by double digits rival Mitt Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts.
 
As the advertisement hit the airwaves, the former New York mayor was spending the day criss crossing the Midwest campaigning in Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
 
The New Hampshire ad touts his experience running New York City such as cutting crime rates, and makes a subtle reference to his leadership of the city during the Sept. 11 attacks.
 
But he also acknowledges that he isn’t perfect — perhaps trying to address criticism from some conservatives who dislike his support for abortion rights.
 
“I believe I’ve been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They’re not going to find perfection, but they’re going to find somebody who has dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results,” Giuliani says in the ad. 

Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder
 

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, unable to get the coveted endorsement of the anti-abortion group National Right to Life Committee, is turning to his buddy Chuck Norris for some help.
 
Norris, well known for his martial arts moves and movies, endorsed Huckabee last month and is now helping the former Arkansas governor raise money as he tries to gain some ground on the Republican front-runners.
 
“Mike has a heart for helping others and will fight for the causes of the citizens of this country,” Norris said in the pitch to supporters. “Mike doesn’t abandon his values for what’s expedient.”
 
Huckabee has typically polled in the low double digits or high single digits but came in second in the Iowa Straw Poll this summer (though Rudy Giuliani and John McCain did not participate). He has drawn support from conservatives upset that Giuliani supports abortion rights and Mitt Romney once did.
 
Huckabee “doesn’t fear offending Christian leaders who give up their values in pursuit of electing their ‘team leader’ just like everyone else,” Norris said.

Norris appeared to be taking a chop at Christian evangelical leader Pat Robertson, who last week endorsed Giuliani even though Giuliani supports abortion rights and gay rights.

Photo credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts
 

UPDATED with Edwards’ reaction…. 

Even though Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has been intensifying his attacks on rival Hillary Clinton, he initially kept his mouth closed on whether he would endorse her should she win the party’s nomination.
 
Some Democrats were scratching their heads at a New York Times interview in which the former North Carolina senator refused, twice, to say whether he would support her.
 
“I am surprised at just how angry John has become. This is not the same John Edwards I once knew,” said another White House hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd. “Of course, we should all come together to support the nominee. I wonder which of the Republicans John prefers to Hillary?”
 
According to his campaign, after the Times report Edwards said in New Hampshire today: “I fully expect to support the Democratic nominee, and I fully expect to be the Democratic nominee.” 

When he ran for president in 2004 he withdrew after the Super Tuesday primary votes but still went on to be the party’s vice presidential nominee. 
 
Meanwhile Clinton, who has been hit repeatedly by her Edwards and other rivals after her lackluster performance during the last debate, decided to try to capitalize on the punches by sending supporters a request to help her raise $1 million before Thursday night’s debate.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has been trying to close the gap in the early primary voting states and some friends want to help — but he says he doesn’t want it.
 
The New York Times and others are reporting that a group of his supporters have formed an independent group and started to run a television advertisement in South Carolina — where McCain’s 2000 bid fell apart — to help boost his effort. 
 
McCain’s campaign has been plagued with poor fund raising and staff turnover for much of the year, but in recent weeks he has been seen by political analysts as beginning to turn his campaign around.
 
The Arizona Republican senator has been a fierce critic of the way political campaigns have been financed and helped rewrite the law to overhaul the system in 2002. Upon learning of the new effort to help his 2008 bid, McCain issued a strong condemnation. 
 
“I have long opposed the use of soft money by independent groups trying to influence elections,” McCain said in a statement. “Anyone who believes they could assist my campaign by exploiting a loophole in campaign finance laws is doing me and our country a disservice.”
 
The outside effort was being led by Rick Reed, whose co-produced the television ads by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that questioned the war record of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry during the 2004 election. 
 
At the same time, McCain is reportedly looking for a loan to fill his drained campaign coffers. He has raised some $32.1 million this year but has spent $28.6 million. His opponents have raised millions more. 

Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (McCain at a debate in South Carolina in May)

Reuters Television correspondent Jon Decker reports on the roller coaster week for Republican Rudy Giuliani who won a key endorsement from Christian evangelist Pat Robertson but saw a former close aide, Bernard Kerik, indicted. Meanwhile Democrats stepped up attacks front runner Hillary Clinton.