'Fredsgiving' turns out to be a turkey

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- An unauthorized online campaign to raise funds for U.S. Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson -- "Fredsgiving Day" -- has apparently come a cropper.

What started out as a plan to raise millions of dollars online in a single day for the campaign of former U.S. senator from Tennessee fizzled out in a wave of spam, The Online Buzz reported.

A group of anonymous Thompson supporters began the effort, which was disavowed by the official campaign. The effort was designed to imitate the "money bomb" one-day donation drive for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, which generated $4.2 million earlier this month.

The problem, the Buzz said, was that "Fredsgiving" was detonated the day before Thanksgiving, when millions of potential givers were on the road.

The report said no one has announced how much money was raised, which has given rise to speculation that "Thompson's bomb may have bombed."

A notice on the fundraising Web site, fredsgivingday.com, had a "special shout" to Paul supporters who allegedly "littered this site with phony pledges and racist e-mail addresses. Of all the supporters of different candidates out there, it was only you guys who took the time to make (expletive) of yourselves. Only you."