Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

It's Thursday, April 12, and that means it is time for the newest installment of The Daily Fred, a daily roundup of news and blog coverage of the potential presidential candidacy of Fred Thompson.

Yesterday's Daily Fred was seconds before the news of Thompson's two-year-old lymphoma diagnosis popped onto my web browser, so I handled that in a second post that you can read here.

There's not much new on that front, just media and blog punditry about What It Means - does it mean Fred is running or isn't running? How will it affect his chances? Fred himself said on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News that he put the info out to gauge public reaction to it as part of his run-or-not-run decision-making process.

And Thompson couldn't have picked a better moment to disclose his cancer:

The new edition of Newsweek on grocery store checkout lines everywhere features a big, yellow Livestrong bracelet against a white background, and the title of a first-person story by Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, "How I Live with Cancer."

Millions of Americans live with cancer, just like Fred. (Memo to Fred: The editor of ElephantBiz is officially neutral in the presidential race, but my mom's a cancer survivor currently battling it in round two. Get yourself a Livestrong bracelet.)

Meanwhile, the latest poll, from Bloomberg/LA Times, has Fred in second place, ahead of John McCain.

The Boston Globe notes a couple of interesting items from Thompson's appearance on Fox News. First, Thompson said he doesn't "crave" the presidency. Second, Thompson "implied that he would not be as visible on the campaign trail as others if he decided to run for president."

Asked if he was going to start behind other Republican candidates in terms of organization and fund-raising he dismissed that has "old book" thinking. He said that he doesn't necessarily believe a presidential candidate needs to be on the road as often as they are.

Given that Fred now leads McCain despite McCain's frenetic campaigning and Fred's non-campaigning, he just might be right about that.

Now, let's move on to the rest of today's The Daily Fred...

The Cheerful Oncologist has some questions about Thompson's illness, described yesterday as an "indolent lymphoma" that is in remission.

PowerLine blogged Thompson's interview with Sean Hannity regarding his illness.

...David All, a former communications director for a Georgia congressman, says that it doesn't appear that Thompson's cancer - now in remission - is affecting his support.

...CBN's David Brody blogs the fallout from his previous post (mentioned in yesterday's Daily Fred) linking Thompson to liberal GOP Sen. Lincoln Chaffee.

That's it for today

...more tomorrow...