Fred Thompson

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson had some fun Thursday when reporters in
Phoenix asked him about the strategy behind a TV commercial that was broadcast during the CNN/YouTube debate on Wednesday.

“Oh, it’s a very secret strategy. I can’t let you in on it,” he said during a brief press conference after speaking at two fundraisers.

All the candidates who participated in the debate were permitted to submit YouTube-style videos to be broadcast during the program. All but Thompson submitted videos that focused on their own achievements and qualifications.

Thompson’s spot instead showed old clips of Mitt Romney defending abortion rights and Mike Huckabee saying tax increases were fine with him. Alas, now Romney is opposed to abortion, and Huckabee is against tax raises.

Thompson said his ad took a legitimate look at his rivals’ evolving position on important issues. “The question is: Do you look at their record for several years or do you look at what they’re saying now, in order to determine what they’re going to do in the future?” Thompson said.

The answer was not provided during the press conference. On another topic, a reporter also asked Thompson if he expected to win Arizona’s GOP presidential preference election on Feb. 5.

“Ah, yes,” he replied without elaborating.

Pulling that off will require plenty of secret strategy work. A poll released by Behavior Research Center earlier this month had Thompson running in fourth place among the GOP presidential candidates in Arizona. The survey had Rudy Giuliani first with 20 percent support among self-identified Republican heads of households. Arizona Sen. John McCain was second at 18 percent, while Romney was third at 11 percent. Thompson was next at 10 percent.

My full story on Thompson’s first campaign visit to Arizona is available here:  Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.