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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder - Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. More

Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal. He previously served as the politics editor, and is now a contributing editor, for The Atlantic, where he curated the influential Politics channel on TheAtlantic.com and contributed to the magazine. He was also a chief political consultant to CBS News. Earlier, at NJ's Hotline, Ambinder was the founding editor of "Hotline On Call," a pathbreaking political news blog. He also worked as a producer and reporter for the ABC News Political Unit and was one of the founders of ABC's "The Note." Born in New York City, raised in Central Florida, Ambinder is a 2001 graduate of Harvard and lives in Washington, D.C.

Should Fred Thompson Participate In The Ames Straw Poll?

By Marc Ambinder
Jun 8 2007, 4:14 PM ET Comment

Fred Thompson's not likely to participate in the Ames straw poll, which suffered the defection this week of two top candidates.

But a solid argument can be made that he might want to take another look. The Washington Post reports that his advisers are meeting IA GOP exec. dir Chuck Laudner in DC today.

If Thompsom opts in, it would be audacious and unexpected and a way to show, at a minimum, that Thompson doesn't fear Mitt Romney's organizational prowess in Iowa.

Thompson wants to raise around $5M by August; we'd assume he wants to keep his campaign as flinty as possible. But spending a million on Ames might be a solid gamble. If he finishes anywhere near Mitt Romney, it'd be a huge win.

No one expects Thompson to even compete, so the momentum surge after even a second place finish would be considerable. And money would roll in, easily making up for whatever Thompson spent.

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Marc Ambinder
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