In early June we did a
column on the many "firsts" that could
evolve during the 2008 Presidential
election: First woman, First Mormon, First
thrice married, First Italian-American, and
the oldest candidates ever elected for a
first -term President.
The next week we did our column on who the
final candidates might be for the Republican
and Democratic tickets. We projected Fred
Dalton Thompson to head the GOP ticket and
Al Gore to emerge as the Democratic standard
bearer.
Mr. Gore has not appeared to be losing any
weight to gain a better TV image although he
still has time for that. On the other hand,
Fred Thompson has said yes indeed he plans
to become an active candidate.
Thompson is getting more and more attention
in the press.
Recently, Thompson sat down for coffee at a
restaurant near his Virginia Headquarters
with David Broder of the Washington Post. He
told Broder "he will not tiptoe quietly".
Instead, he will try to shake up the
establishment candidates of both parties by
depicting a nation "in peril from fiscal and
security threats---and prescribing tough
cures" Thompson said "others shrink from
offering." Thompson said when he joins the
battle next month, he "will take some risks
that others are not willing to take, in
terms of forcing a dialogue on our
entitlement situation, our military
situation, and what it is going to cost" to
assure the nation's future.
The former Senator from Tennessee has caught
a strong whiff of the public disillusionment
with both parties in Washington-and the
partisanship that has infected Congress,
helping to speed his own departure from the
Senate.
After spending most of the last few years on
TV's Law and Order, Thompson started a new
family with two children under four, and the
65-year old lawyer says he finds himself
motivated for the first time to seek the
White House.
The two-hour visit with Broder left no
doubts about Thompson's plans.
However, another writer was more questioning
of Thompson's chances.
Linda Chavez, the author of "An Unlikely
Conservative: The Transformation of an
Ex-Liberal."Chavez
wrote this week in the Dallas Morning News
about Republicans having no heir apparent as
a candidate for 2008. She said : " Former
Senator Fred Thompson had little claim to
the mantle. An eight-year Senator and former
Republican Congressional staffer, he did
little in office, and even less since
leaving Washington, to earn the right to be
the party's standard-bearer." She added: "
They won't necessarily pick the candidate
they are most familiar with, or, the one who
seems to have paid the most dues.
Republicans may actually be forced to choose
the candidate they think would be most
likely to win against the Democrat nominee,
which looks increasingly likely to be
Hillary Rodham Clinton."
Ms. Chavez and the many
others who are looking for an easy
Democratic Presidential victory in 2008 may
want to take a closer look at Fred Dalton
Thompson. He doesn't come without some
indelibly strong credentials. Not only did
he win an easy victory in 1994 for the U.S.
Senate seat in Tennessee, but he was also
co-chief counsel to the Senate Watergate
Committee during it's investigation in
1973-1974.
` In 2000, he was among
those mentioned to become the
vice-presidential running mate with George
W. Bush.
Extremely articulate,
thought by many to be Reaganesque in his
conservative politics, and much more
comfortable on camera than most anyone you
can name
on the political scene, Fred Dalton
Thompson, without a doubt, would be more
acceptable to voters in the south as well as
moderate to conservative voters everywhere.
As he told Broder over
coffee last week: "There is no reason for me
to run just to be president. I don't desire
emoluments of the office. I don't want to
live a lie and clever my way to the
nomination or election. But, if you can put
your ideas out there --different, more
far-reaching ideas--that is worth doing."
It just might be this
veteran Conservative politician and longtime
tough "Law and Order" District-Attorney
would welcome a showdown with Hillary Rodham
Clinton or Al Gore or anyone else.
Get ready. Things are
about to heat up in national politics. Fred
Thompson is not accustomed to losing----in
real life or in Law and Order!
That's my time, thank you for yours! |
