NBC's Chris Matthews discusses the possibility of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson running for president with Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, during the Monday edition of Hardball:
MATTHEWS: Lynn, let‘s talk for a minute - because I want to talk when we come back about Fred Thompson. It looks to me - and this is my seat-of-the-pants judgment - he looks like the daddy figure the Republican Party has been looking around for. He looks classic wise man. He has gravitas. He‘s no Dan Quayle, a guy when he says something‘s got that Colin Powell feature, where you just sort of trust him. Is he going to jump in this race and take over?
SWEET: Gut feeling is yes. I saw him this weekend at some of the Gridiron festivities, and I‘ve been talking to some people around him, and I think that as long as there‘s - he perceives a gap in the Republican field, where there‘s no one that has a lock as a solid frontrunner, it just creates a good excuse for him to get in. And he‘s been able to stay out of this money race. Because he‘s getting in late, he could just take his time now and see how things shake down. But I think it is a very serious possibility that he‘s going to get in, yes.
MATTHEWS: Andrea, looking at the Republican side of things, is there a gap out there politically...
MITCHELL: Oh, absolutely.
MATTHEWS: ... for a guy like Fred?
MITCHELL: Absolutely. And as you know, Howard Baker and other Republicans - you‘ve been talking to some of his former colleagues in the Senate - the Tennessee Republican senators are strongly behind him, and others, as well. He‘s got good conservative credentials. I think has an 85 percent conservative ranking for his voting. And there‘s been a hunger out there in the conservative part of the Republican Party. They are concerned about Giuliani on some social issues. They - some of them, the evangelicals, really don‘t like Giuliani‘s marriage record...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MITCHELL: ... or multiple marriage record. And they‘ve never really trusted John McCain.
MATTHEWS: Well, two looks a lot less than three, doesn‘t it, after a while.
Matthews also interviews Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander about Thompson:
ALEXANDER: He‘s thinking about it. He‘s seriously considering it. But, to me, the more interesting thing is, so many other people are. This is the closest thing to a genuine draft I have seen since I have been in politics.
MATTHEWS: Well, who is behind it?
ALEXANDER: I‘m not sure. I hear it everywhere. I hear it on the plane flying from Tennessee to Washington. I hear at Washington cocktail parties. I hear people across the country talking about it.
I had a group of ladies from Iowa who I met 10 years ago when I ran for president in the other day, and they said: Well, we‘re not committed. Give him our phone number.
There's more here.
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