the kicker

The Times and Thompson

Missing the dirt
August 15, 2007

The New Republic‘s Jason Zengerle beat me to the punch in commenting on this morning’s New York Times piece about Fred Thompson’s presidential-campaign-that-isn’t-yet-a-campaign. While it’s not a fluff piece, the article somehow manages to neglect to mention some key–and very well-reported–developments in the Thompson camp. Zengerle writes that “the Times doesn’t bother mentioning that Thompson’s stealth campaign has been plagued by staff turmoil–it’s already on its third manager–and that much of the excitement that Thompson stoked at the elite and grassroots levels of the GOP when he first started toying with running has dissipated.”

Note to the Times: When you’re doing a round-up story like this, it helps to, you know, round up all the pertinent information on the subject. Thompson’s inability to retain a campaign manager, before even launching a campaign, is pretty newsworthy stuff.

Paul McLeary is a former CJR staff writer. Since 2008, he has covered the Pentagon for Foreign Policy, Defense News, Breaking Defense, and other outlets. He is currently a defense reporter for Politico.