The Daily Fred for Tuesday, March 20, 2007, starts with Peter A. Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, who writes that, "on paper," Thompson has a good shot to win the Republican presidential nomination and even the general election.
He could run as a common sense Washington outsider with Ronald Reagan-class communications skills. Thompson's name recognition is still limited, but his celebrity means his face recognition is unusually high and very favorable.
"He'd have instant credibility within the party and would be a very formidable candidate against any Democrat in November," said former U.S. Sen. and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who is neutral in the nomination fight. "He has a very solid conservative record, but like Reagan, he has been able to charm many who may not agree with him on every issue."
Bob Beckel, who managed 1984 Democratic nominee Walter Mondale's campaign, called Thompson potentially a Democratic electoral nightmare because of his communications skills and ability to appeal to swing voters.
If Thompson runs, look for conservatives to rally around him in an effort to save their party from Rudy Giuliani or John McCain, and the country from Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. They like his 90-plus rating as a senator from the American Conservative Union almost as much as the zero he received from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.
In other stuff today...
...NewsMax wonders if Thompson is "stalking for McCain." John Mercurio writes, "Whether or not he runs, Thompson might benefit McCain, if only because he appears to be slowing the momentum enjoyed recently by McCain's two main rivals, Giuliani and Romney, among conservatives."
...Tennessee is likely to move its presidential primary to Feb. 5, a week earlier that normal, to join the large number of states that are voting that day. Tennessee Republican Party chairman Bob Davis, a former Thompson staffer, says that might boost Thompson's prospects.
...Even though his name wasn't included in the poll, Thompson still got 2 percent in the latest poll of likely Republican voters in Michigan. In that poll, 30 percent said they'd vote for Arizona Sen. John McCain and 26 percent preferred former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Two percent of Republicans volunteered that they'd vote for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama "Law & Order." Thompson has said he's pondering a run but has not yet decided if he'll be a candidate.
Mark Harris at Save the GOP thinks that's a big deal.
...The Politico lists Thompson as one of a (long) list of names of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales if Gonzales resigns or is fired because of the Democrats' manufactured "scandal" over the president firing eight U.S. attorneys. U.S. attorneys, of course, are political appointees whom the President is free to fire at any time for any reason. I doubt Fred would be interested in being attorney general for a lame-duck president.
...NPR's Brian Unger mocks Thompson, focusing on Thompson's acting career and ignoring his rather accomplished career as an attorney, prosecutor and U.S. senator. But the rest of it is kind of funny, in an arch NPR kind of way.
...Dick Morris predicts Giuliani will win the nomination even if Thompson runs.
...RadarOnline spotlights a Time magazine comparison of the positions of Thompson, Giuliani, McCain, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on gay marriage. Thompson isn't even officially running, and Time already counts him as one of the "major" candidates for the GOP nomination.
...The Mainstream Iowan is considering jumping on the Thompson bandwagon - and points readers to a new blog, Iowans for Fred Thompson.
...Mark Kilmer at Red State says there are good men and then there are great men, and hopes Thompson decides to be the latter.
...Scripps Howard News Service columnist Dan K. Thomasson considers Thompson's prospects and says the surge of interest in Thompson "pretty much certifies the lack of overall enthusiasm by GOP regulars for the current, announced crop of hopefuls, especially the three presumed frontrunners, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney."
He also speculates about the "Hagel factor." Click here to find out what he's talking about.
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