The question the Republican presidential candidates are asking themselves today is whether, by the end of this weekend’s Values Voter Summit at the Hilton Washington, they will be in better position to win the nomination than before. Surely Fred Thompson is thinking about that, but if you judge on the basis of his speech today, it’s hard to say. The speech itself was folksy and patriotic. But – and here is the negative – it seemed labored, as his speeches often tend to seem. He paused a lot, as if in search of the right word, and sometimes his sentences seemed out of order. It would be hard to blame inattentive listeners. Still – and here is the positive – what might have resonated for that part of the audience that stuck with Thompson was his discussion of “head” and “heart.” The distinction between the two is keenly known to evangelicals, for whom faith must be heart-felt, and who dominated this morning’s audience. Thompson said he for a long time accepted some things in his head. But only recently had he come to believe those things in his heart. He gave as an example his pro-life position. He had been pro-life for years, he said, but only when he saw the sonogram of his soon-to-be born daughter Hayden did his position become a matter of his heart’s conviction. This Thompson persona is not one I’d seen before. He was leading with his heart, you could say, as he hoped to win over the minds (and hearts!) of social conservatives, most of whom are evangelicals. It’s not the lawyer or senator or actor Thompson the nation is familiar with. But who said the path to the White House must avoid new trails?
