CRAMMING FOR THE FINAL

The New York Times has an amusing story today about Fred Thompson's low-effort campaign:

...Mr. Thompson has made a languid three-day swing through Florida ending Saturday with the candidate watching a football game in Gainesville. The pace has kept him on a jumbo air-conditioned bus far more often than he is actually campaigning.

Since Thursday morning, when the tour began, Mr. Thompson has made no more than three campaign stops a day, with long stretches in between. In recent spins through Iowa, he kept a similarly relaxed schedule. Mitt Romney, by comparison, often does six town-hall-style forums a day when in Iowa. ...

I particularly liked this:

...Between his campaign stops, Mr. Thompson has been spending most of his time riding on his bus with a coterie of advisers.

Several of Mr. Thompson's aides said he had been spending his time being briefed, often on the phone with advisers. And much of the discussion has focused on economics and security, said Rich Galen, a senior adviser to the campaign. "He's been going through the briefing books," Mr. Galen said....

Dude, you've been running a non-campaign campaign all year and you're just starting to read the briefing books now?