Welcome to the April 6, 2007 edition of The Daily Fred, your Monday-Friday roundup of the latest and most interesting news and blog articles about former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and his potential presidential run that has the Republican grassroots all jazzed up. Because it is Good Friday, today's update will be short.
We'll start in Washington D.C., where The Politico reports that Thompson has begun assembling a staff for a potential campaign, and then move on over to Hollywood, where television producer Dick Wolf talked the Los Angeles Times about Thompson.
The Politico reports today that Thompson "has moved beyond pondering a bid for the White House and begun assembling the nucleus of a campaign should he decide to run, according to people involved in the effort."
Thompson has not yet decided to seek the Republican presidential nomination. But “he is getting more serious every day,” said an adviser familiar with Thompson's plans. Thompson’s coming-out as a candidate-in-waiting will be a May 4 appearance at the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County in the heart of Ronald Reagan country in Southern California. The invitation was widely sought by aspiring Republicans, and his advisers expect considerable media attention around the visit. But there are no plans now for an announcement then.
Jetting over to L.A. we find Wolf, the producer of the TV show "Law & Order," talked the Los Angeles Times about Thompson's special gifts as a communicator:
In many ways, Thompson is a politician who learned how to be an actor by simply playing himself. A big man with a deep baritone Dixie drawl, he exudes authority. Pro 2nd Amendment, he looks like a guy who could manage a crisis. And, according to television producer Dick Wolf, who cast Thompson in "Law & Order," he probably could.
"Look, I've met every president since Nixon," said Wolf, an independent who supported Bill Clinton. "When they focus their attention on you, it's like a light goes on. They have this unique ability to make you feel like you're the only one in the room.
"I don't know if it's a gift or a trick, but Fred's got it."
Wolf finds Thompson's potential candidacy interesting. He's even had conversations with him about it."We talked about it in the abstract," Wolf recounted. "I said, 'You should run.' He said, 'Really, why?' I said, 'Because I don't think there's anyone out there who can appeal to the base.' "
Wolf said he could easily see Thompson running and winning. "When Fred Thompson walks in a room, people want to salute," Wolf said. "But beyond that, he's a remarkable consensus builder. He can see both sides of an issue. "The character he plays in 'Law & Order,' as all successful characters are, is not too far from the mettle of the man."
Now, onto the rest of today's Daily Fred...
...Melanie Morgan, chairman of the conservative, pro-troop non-profit organization Move America Forward and co-host of the "Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Show" on KSFO 560 AM in San Francisco, writes at World Net Daily that Thompson "offers great promise to conservatives" on the two most important issues facing America: the war against Islamist terror, and illegal immigration.
...SaveTheGop.com notes that Tradesports puts the chances of Thompson running as pretty high.
...The liberal Media Matters for America is trying to keep the "Dobson Attacked Thompson's Faith" meme alive by morphing the story into an attack on Focus on the Family and American Family Radio, a Christian radio network.
...Fred Thompson himself has another piece posted at National Review - again, the transcript of a commentary he recorded for the Paul Harvey News & Commentary radio show. This time, he looks at the issue of role models and celebrity versus character.
...A.C. Kleinheider doesn't think Thompson will run, but thinks he will announce in August.
...more to come...
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