CNN: Thompson's 'virtual' campaign experiencing real bumps

CNN | Bill Schneider

[comment: a concerned CNN journalist and Clinton supporting writes about the emerging Fred Thompson campaign]

Have we been hearing good news or bad news about Fred Thompson's campaign? The answer is yes.

Or make that the "virtual campaign." Fred Thompson is not in the Republican race yet. He's still building an organization and raising money -- and hitting some bumps.

He keeps delaying his official announcement, now expected in September. Some staff members have quit.

Controversy has already arisen over the fact that Thompson once accepted a lobbying assignment for an abortion rights group. But his views and his Senate record are strongly anti-abortion, and has come out strongly against the "activist" judges that social conservatives rile against.

In June, Thompson called for "federal courts doing what they are suppose to do, not somebody else's job; not as social arbitrators of this nation."

The Politico is reporting that Thompson raised a little over $3 million in June, a figure that will disappoint his supporters.

Could Thompson be losing momentum before he even gets into the race? Maybe it's not him. Maybe it's us.

"We're paying so much more attention to these campaigns, so much earlier; to some degree, we may just never [have] really have followed [it like] this in prior years," said Republican strategist David Winston.