ABC News's "Political Radar" blog has some interesting news about Fred Thompson:
Former senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has been out office for more than four years now, but he chose this past weekend to close the political action committee he’s had open since his days in the Senate. Might he have another office in mind?
Thompson filed his "termination report" with the Federal Election Commission on Saturday, formally shutting down the Fred D. Thompson PAC.
He’d barely been using the account anyway, and he was prohibited from using money raised for the PAC for his presidential bid. It just might be an attempt by Thompson to clean up his books before he announces a presidential run - advisers have indicated that he could jump in the race as early as next month.
In his final round of disbursements, Tennessee-based charities were the big winners, but Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, got $1,000, potentially buying Thompson a chit in a crucial presidential state. Sen. Lamar Alaxender, R-Tenn., who holds Thompson’s old Senate seat, got $4,000, and the PAC paid $2,000 to Daniel Thompson Associates, the consulting firm run by Fred Thompson’s son.
This is the kind of thing you do before you run for office.
Meanwhile, I just ran across this article from NashvillePost.com from mid-March regarding Thompson that gives its readers tons of insight into Fred's Tennessee political roots. The piece works hard to pit Thompson as being at odds with social conservatives, but ultimately it fails for the basic reason that Thompson was a reliable vote for social conservatives' agenda during his eight years in the U.S. Senate. Thompsons' federalist approach to policymaking also fits well with much of what social conservatives want.
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