On Monday morning we woke up early to attend a 7:30 a.m. breakfast where the Iowa delegation was addressed by Tommy Thompson, a former Wisconsin governor and one-time presidential contender.

Thompson was scheduled to speak to the delegation on behalf of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. As a former secretary of Health and Human Services, Thompson was probably the best spokesman the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease could hope to have. However, his presence only reinforced my theory as to why his presidential candidacy had ended so prematurely.

I have always liked Tommy Thompson and he had be an early favorite of mine during the presidential election.

However, I believe that Governor Thompson was pigeonholed early, by both the media and prospective voters, as a single-issue candidate on health care.

One thing I've learned is that if you hope to capture the White House, you need to be a well-rounded candidate with knowledge (or at least the perception of knowledge) about a whole range of issues.

Alas for Governor Thompson, he did not sell as anything but "the health care candidate" … which may be why he was speaking to the Iowa delegation on behalf of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease on Monday morning, and not preparing to accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday.

-- Enos was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's political director during his victorious Republican caucus campaign.

Labels: RNC2008