It's Wednesday, March 28, time for another edition of The Daily Fred, your daily roundup of news and bloggage about Fred Thompson. Today's Daily Fred starts with Washington Post columnist Mary Ann Akers, who is keeping track of where Fred has lunch and - more importantly - who he's lunching with, and what they're talking about.
After having lunch Monday at the Mayflower hotel restaurant with Republican Party master strategist Ed Gillespie, the actor and former Tennessee senator met for three hours Tuesday at the same location with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, also of Tennessee.
The back-to-back meetings underscore just how serious Thompson is about mulling a run for the presidency. And who wouldn't run after managing to place third among GOP presidential candidates without even lifting a finger? Click here to see the new USA Today/Gallup poll, which has Thompson - an undeclared potential candidate - ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and others, trailing only former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
A Frist confidant familiar with the meeting between Thompson and Frist said he thought Thompson was "deadly serious" about learning as much as he could from Frist, who had considered a run for president himself and who, as the former top Republican in the Senate, is a proven fundraiser and has a Rolodex full of donors' names.
A close Thompson confidant, meanwhile, told The Sleuth that Thompson has "the luxury of sitting back and waiting" before jumping in the '08 waters. And while the former senator has been "bombarded" with requests to appear on TV shows to discuss his potential candidacy, the source said, he's going to "wait and see how things develop."
Here's Gallup's news release on that poll, which shows Thompson cutting into the support previously enjoyed by Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney though - interestingly - not Sam Brownback. (Not that interesting because, at 3 percent, Brownback really doesn't have much support to lose.)
"This not-running seems to be working pretty well" for Thompson, comments the Instapundit.
Also in major media today, the New York Times website recycles a Congressional Quarterly story from yesterday that notes that "Thompson has received a groundswell of support over the Internet, with 'draft' organizations calling on him to enter the race," includeing the web site fred08.com, which is affiliated with the "Draft Fred Thompson 2008" committee that recently filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
And now, onto the rest of today's Daily Fred...
...National Review Online has Thompson's radio commentary on Congress adding pork to the Iraq funding bill.
...Bruce Walker at American Daily, looks at Thompson's role in helping President Bush get a conservative confirmed to the Supreme Court - and what that says about judicial picks under a future President Thompson administration.
...The Tennessean takes note of Fred's strong third-place showing in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll.
...The blogger at Front Site, Press, looks at Thompson's record on gun rights.
...BatesLine, an Oklahoma political blog, put together a great collection of Fred links yesterday.
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