Fred Thompson has started his last major offensive. When he got into the race, many analysts, bloggers, experts and conservatives (some of whom are all in one) expected him to unite the Republican Party instantly. They thought that he would the best choice for conservatives and that he would instantly be the frontrunner.

Sadly for Thompson, however, things went slightly differently. He got in with a lot of support and with even more potential support, but he squandered it because he came across as someone who doesn’t truly want to win. The joke quickly became that Thompson had to be woken up during debates.

Nowadays, however, Thompson is trying to show a different side of himself: the side that’s passionate, energetic, convinced and solid. Instead of sitting at home, hoping that the bloggers who support him will do the trick for him, he’s now out on the campaign trail, possibly campaigning harder than any of the other candidates… in Iowa at least.

He’s on a gigantic bus tour which will, when finished, have taken him to some “50 towns and cities covering 75 percent of Iowa caucus-goers.” During the tour, he’s interacting with Iowans and explaining his position on a number of issues. His goal is to finish, at the very least, third in the Iowa caucus, which could create some momentum which, in turn, could enable him to win in South Carolina (if this fails, he’s out).

At this point in time, he’s indeed doing quite well in the Iowa polls: if the primary would be held today he would finish in third place. What’s more, there’s room for him to do even better: Huckabee and Romney are attacking each other relentlessly which opens the door to a third candidate who can convince voters that he’s a real conservative.

(Image: Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson granted an interview next to his tour bus prior to a campaign stop yesterday in Urbandale, Iowa. AP)

However, he also has some problems. First and foremost, he doesn’t have a whole lot of money. In fact, he’s nearly broke. He has to raise some $250,000 by the end of today, if he doesn’t, he won’t be able to run his new ad in Iowa. If he can’t get the ad on the airwaves, he won’t do all that well January the 3rd.

(Image: Fred and Jeri Thompson. WireImage)

Secondly, finishing third sounded good once, but now that McCain and Giuliani have practically withdrawn from the race in Iowa (even though McCain’s visiting Iowa for three days or so, he’s not advertising there anymore, nor sending out mass e-mails), well, the value of a third place has diminished now. In fact, if he truly wants to create momentum, he’d have to upset either Romney or Huckabee and finish in second place, according to The Washington Times‘ Stephen Dinan at least and I tend to agree.

Thompson is objectively spoken probably the best conservative (compromise) candidate out there, but I fear for him that he failed to seize the moment when he could and that his new offensive is too little, and especially too late.