In a recent editon of The Daily Fred, I noted a blog post by influential radio talker/blogger Hugh Hewitt mentioning the Fred Thompson buzz, and remarked that Hewitt, who is flogging a new pro-Mitt Romney book, hadn't had much to say about Thompson.
An alert reader passed along this March 16 blog post from HughHewitt.com in which Hewitt offered his take on former Sen. Bill Frists's endorsement of a possible Thompson presidential run.
Hewitt:Finally, note Bill Frist's enthusiastic support of Fred Thompson's candidacy over at VOLPAC:
I talked to Fred Thompson last night, really just to share with him the tremendous support that he has received from all of you who have blogged on the Volpac web site over the past 4 days. In your messages many of you have given specific suggestions, and I passed them on to him. If there are messages, or ideas that you'd like to get to Fred, write them below, to stimulate others with your ideas, and I will share them with Fred. Now is the time for big ideas ... big, true conservative ideas that rise above the fray. Fred is listening. He will carefully consider running over the next several weeks. His public statements exactly reflect what he is thinking inside.
Sure, some of this is back scratching of a fellow Volunteer State retired senator.
But a lot of it is also the reflection of the lack of enthusiasm within the Senate GOP (and its alums and their Beltway networks) for either Senator McCain or Senator Brownback. Mayor Giuliani and Governor Romney are outside-the-Beltway candidates, and the Beltway wants a horse in the race, and Senator McCain isn't it.
It seems Hewitt thinks that Frist's pro-Thompson email was a sly attempt to damage McCain, while "the Beltway" looks for a horse it can back in the race. To me it was what appeared to be: Frist doing his part to promote a Thompson presidential run.
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