“Absolute b***s***!” is the response from a Thompson Associate to Marc Ambinder’s report that “ex-Sen. Fred Thompson’s lead political advance operative, Sam LeBlond, resigned this morning.”
(The b***s*** is in response to the description of LeBlond’s title and prominence to the campaign, not the news that he has departed, I should clarify.)
“LeBlond is a fine young man and a credit to his family, but he was a kid who was a junior, junior aide to[departed campaign chief] Tom Collamore,” the associate said. “He was not our lead political advance, he was never our lead political advance… We right how have political advance teams working before every stop Fred Thompson goes to. [LeBlond] may have assisted informally with the recent trips to New York and Richmond, but that’s it. We have additional advance staff that we’re going to be announcing soon, but they’ll be based out of Nashville, not Washington. LeBlond was based in Washington… This is a whole lot of nothing.”
Sam LeBlond was born in 1984, making him 22 or 23?*
One point in favor of the argument that this is a significant departure for the Thompson campaign: At 24, I left Congressional Quarterly, and I’d like to think that organization has never quite recovered.
* I would note that I originally had 23 or 24, as I am bad at math.
UPDATE: I should note that I’m hearing a different tune from another Thompson Associate. This individual has been less than thrilled with the developments in Thompson’s not-quite-campaign in recent weeks, and this person indicates that LeBlond’s activities were significantly more than the First Associate indicated.