Fred Thompson May Not Announce Until Summer

[Lounge Daddy]

The word was that Fred Thompson would announce this month.
But now the word is that Thompson may just wait until summer.
After all, he is enjoying a stead position as a front runner as an unannounced candidate, and he can take this time to comfortably disarm anticipated attacks by rivals.

From one of my new favorite websites, [url="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3753.html"]The Politico[/url]:

[quote]Advisers to Fred Thompson have begun exploring a range of staffing options -- including talking to potential campaign managers -- as the actor and former Tennessee senator firms up his plans to enter the Republican presidential contest, according to people involved in the conversations.

Thompson has not made a final decision but is on track to be ready to announce his candidacy in June or July, his advisers say. Thompson has already been polling better than some of the announced GOP candidates, and his entry would shake up a field that has left many Republican faithful dissatisfied.

At the Capitol Hill Club session, most of the 63 House members implored Thompson to run, although some were spies for rival campaigns. During the discussion about his past, Thompson said he had recently spoken to his ex-wife, Sarah, and said she would campaign for him. He also spoke lovingly about his "partner for life," his wife, Jeri, and their two small children.

Thompson said his operatives had run across other campaigns doing opposition research on his personal life. "I guess they thought they were going to deter me, and you can see what kind of effect that's had," he said, according to the attendee who took notes.

Originally, the idea of a late-start campaign for Thompson looked like something of a lark, but the phantom candidacy is accelerating. "The question is: Can he do it the way he wants to do it?" said another person helping plan the potential campaign. "With each passing day, he realizes that the answer is yes."

Thompson is even mapping out an issues menu heavy on national security, including restraining nuclear proliferation. He plans to say that fixing Social Security and Medicare for the baby boomers is a more urgent problem than global warming, and he plans to speak frankly about the need for sacrifice in order to fix those programs.

On Friday, he'll have his political coming out (but won't announce) at the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, Calif., a booking in the heart of Reagan country that declared GOP presidential aspirants sought aggressively.[/quote]

[homeschoolmom]

I think he should annouce during May sweeps... during an episode of Law and Order.

[Lounge Daddy]

hehe
HBO is running "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" this month, and Fred Thompson plays President Ulysses Grant with Oval Office scenes and everything.

That's some pretty cool PR stuff right there.

[Lounge Daddy]

hmmm...

[url="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/us/politics/01thompson.html?ei=5065&en=9806e3d2a3d48dc5&ex=1178683200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print"]New York Times has an interesting op/ed piece[/url] on Fred Thomas:

[quote][size=3][i][b]Ex-Senator Seen as Rehearsing for Prime Time[/b][/i][/size]
When 10 of the declared Republican presidential candidates gather for their first debate on Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California, Fred D. Thompson, the actor and politician, will not be among them. But he will not be far offstage...[/quote]

Edited May 2, 2007 by Lounge Daddy

[Ash Wednesday]

I don't know much about him, but I saw a truck drive by me with a big fat FRED sticker on it. It has to be the same Fred, because this dude had a couple of other GOP leaning stickers on his truck, too.

[Ash Wednesday]

I should say I saw the truck TODAY.

I'm looking at a video of one of Fred's ads from 94 and ROFL he reminds me of my old man, who is, well...plain and simple talkin'.

[homeschoolmom]

I hope he runs.

[Ash Wednesday]

I love plain and simple talkin' folk like him. The kind of person that, when getting into something confrontational, first they just look at you and just say, "Lemme ask ya somethin'."

Lemme ask ya somethin.'
Ya know that resolution you was fixin' to get passed on that... what is it... givin' illegal aliens drivers licenses'? What in the heck kinda pea-brained boneheaded idea was that?

[Didymus]

I cant wait to see him in the debates!

[Ash Wednesday]

I'd love to see him clean the floor with John Kerry in a debate. I could see Kerry give some big long windbaggy statement and have Fred say in response, "Well, that's just stupid."

[isilzha]

There was just something funny today about logging into myspace and seeing that Fred Thompson wanted to be my friend.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1262868' date='May 2 2007, 08:25 PM']I love plain and simple talkin' folk like him. The kind of person that, when getting into something confrontational, first they just look at you and just say, "Lemme ask ya somethin'."

Lemme ask ya somethin.'
Ya know that resolution you was fixin' to get passed on that... what is it... givin' illegal aliens drivers licenses'? What in the heck kinda pea-brained boneheaded idea was that?[/quote]


[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1262910' date='May 2 2007, 09:46 PM']I'd love to see him clean the floor with John Kerry in a debate. I could see Kerry give some big long windbaggy statement and have Fred say in response, "Well, that's just stupid."[/quote]

[Lounge Daddy]

Right now Real Clear Politics has a video of Sean Hannity's interview with Fred Thompson [url="http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/05/in_todays_video_vault.html"][LINK][/url]

[Didymus]

i wish he was in tommorrows debate

[kujo]

I really like this guy. I like his slow, articulate, intelligent aura. I wasn't alive during most of the Reagan era, but, from everything I've heard, this guy seems a lot like him.