Thursday, May 31, 2007

Run, Fred, Run!....?

Many of the major news outlets are reporting that Fred Thompson, former Tennessee Senator and "Law and Order" regular (he was also excellent in "Hunt for Red October", among other movies) is scaling back on his TV work.

Why is this relevant?

He might be running for President. Might, coulda, woulda, shoulda. There's already at least a dozen websites devoted to drafting him to run for the 2008 GOP nod, and with good reason. A Thompson (not to be confused with Tommy Thompson, already running) would fill a clear and obvious void in the ballot. The GOP cast of ten, or however many it is at any given moment, has a broad range of possibilities, but none that really appeal to the moderate conservative base that the Republicans have to energize in order to win. I like both John McCain and Rudy Guiliani personally, but I can not get over their past anti-gun movements and will gladly support someone else. Mitt Romney? Too liberal, and we all saw what happened to the last two men from Massachussetts who ran for President - they lost (although being liberal democrats might have something to do with it). Jim Gilmore, Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter are all good men, but they simply do not have the name recognition, or perhaps more importantly, the energy to realistically win the vote.

That leaves Fred Thompson.

Look for him to make an early July announcement either way. These days, you get in early and you get in strong, or you get left in the dust.

No comments: