Time Magazine:

“(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson is going back to the small screen after his foray into Republican presidential politics over the last year.

Thompson, best known on TV for his role as a gruff district attorney on NBC’s Law & Order, dropped out of the crowded GOP primaries in January after his much-anticipated presidential campaign failed to gain strong support among conservatives.

He campaigned heavily for eventual nominee John McCain, and had recently tried to gain support to be in charge of the Republican National Committee.

But his former finance chairman, B.C. “Scooter” Clippard, said Thompson told him Wednesday that he was returning to acting and dropping his RNC bid.

“He seriously considered it, but he called and said that it was not in the cards,” Clippard said.

Clippard said he did not know which television programs might be interested in Thompson.”

His new book comes out tomorrow, & he spares no punches for his former primary rivals.

From Time Magazine:

“Mitt Romney, Huckabee’s principal rival in Iowa, comes in for the roughest treatment.

Huckabee writes that the former Massachusetts governor’s record was “anything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president.” He notes that Romney declined to make a phone call of congratulations after Huckabee beat the oddsmakers to win the Iowa caucuses, “which we took as a sign of total disrespect.” He mocks Romney for suggesting, during one debate, more investment in high-yield stocks as a solution to economic woes. “Let them eat stocks!” Huckabee jokes.”

‘His treatment of former candidate Fred Thompson, a rival who helped sink Huckabee’s upstart ambitions in South Carolina, is somewhat more favorable, if only because it is less personal. Huckabee maintains that Thompson’s biggest mistake was strategic: he didn’t understand the need to expand the Republican Party beyond its base. “Fred Thompson never did grasp the dynamics of the race or the country, and his amazingly lackluster campaign reflected just how disconnected he was with the people, despite the anticipation and expectation that greeted his candidacy,”"

Back When We Mattered

The answer to our trivia question posed here: John Edwards & Mike Huckabee were the two candidates who stopped in Chattanooga, during primary season. Edwards was here on a Monday; by that Friday, he had dropped out of the race. Huckabee, as you know, stayed in for much longer.

Read our posts on Edwards’ visit here & here. Read our post on Huckabee’s visit here.

Where are they now? One candidate is disgraced after admitting to an affair, & his political career is likely over. The other hosts a talk show & is a viable presidential candidate for 2012. Do I really need to tell you who is who?

This Blog’s 1st Post…

..was about Fred Thompson’s decision to drop out of the race. Read it here.

Where was this guy back in late 2007?

With the strange schedule of the convention - thanks to Hurricane Gustav - I’m not sure this can be described as a keynote speech.

But in many ways it’s the speech that the GOP has been dying to hear since it was clear McCain was the nominee. [Also: note that he never says the words "Barack" or "Obama."]

Face it, the man (McCain) has an absolutely gripping biography. Listen to this whole speech if you are not familiar with McCain’s five years as a POW - it’s powerful stuff. & it leaves little room for doubt that this is a worthy candidate of President of the United States. I would hazard a guess that more people than not realize that McCain’s father was commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War, & that McCain himself was seen as a ‘prize.’ I also suspect that many people don’t know that that status was why his captors offered him an early release - an offer that McCain refused to even consider.

But back to Fred.

Michael Crowley of the (liberal) New Republic praises the speech, & its delivery:

“I must say, Fred Thompson gave quite a powerful speech–about as effective a case as you make for John McCain, at least without offending the party base. Thompson was a pitiably bad presidential candidate, of course: bizarrely unable to channel the qualities that make him a good actor into selling himself. But watching him tell John McCain’s story–with skilled solemnity, emphasis, and dramatic pauses–it’s hard to imagine who would have done this better. Perhaps like many actors Thompson is most comfortable in someone else’s skin. I’m not sure which speech in this muddled schedule qualifies as a keynote but Thompson’s has de facto filled that role.

Thompson made a fascinating reference to McCain’s opposition to Reagan’s troop deployment in Lebanon. The last thing you expect to hear at a GOP convention is a Republican bragging on his disagreements with the Gipper. It’s a reminder to Americans that McCain hasn’t always been a reflexive hawk–although it’s certainly been a long time since we saw that side of him.

BUT —

And it was more than a little rich to hear Thompson implicitly trash Obama as a star of the Washington cocktail circuit. Thompson lives in the tony GOP suburban enclave of McLean, Virginia. And Obama has done very little socializing around DC.”

Meanwhile over at the (conservative) National Review Online, Ramesh Ponnuru simply writes

“This Guy should have run for president.”

What do you think?

FURTHER READING: What’s Fred up to these days? He’s created a PAC (Political Action Committee). Read more here.

ALSO: Fred mentioned that Palin was the only candidate - with the possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt - who knows how to field dress a moose. (in fact, one co-worker tells me she switched the channel when she heard him say this). Here are instructions on how to field dress a moose.

Either Fred Thompson has suddenly decided to throw himself into the intricate world of Italian casino gambling, or someone has bought his old “I’m With Fred” campaign website domain name.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson says he’s not interested in being the GOP vice presidential candidate.
Thompson spoke on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Thompson says the presumptive Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, hasn’t offered him the job. But, Thompson says, he’s not interested in the position.
Thompson was one of two Republicans on the show discussing the vice presidency.

More on the story here.

Oh, & by the way - we predicted this two months ago.

Fred Thompson’s back! & he’s a blogger now!

Click here to find out his latest musings at Townhall.com.

He also appeared on Fox News this morning:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As I referred to in yesterday’s post, Ron Paul won our latest NewsChannel9.com web poll among Republican candidates, winning with 26% of the votes in the unscientific poll.

So now that he’s out of the race, Chattanooga-based Ron Paul supporters say they welcome all of Tennessee’s FredHeads.

Daniel Appelget, assistant organizer of the Chattanooga Ron Paul meetup group, wants Thompson supporters to take a look at Paul’s record. Here’s an excerpt:

“…both oppose amnesty, and both agree that open borders mean the end of sovereignty in America. Both also agree that the welfare system should be overthrown….both believe in tracking down those responsible for 9/11 and bringing them to justice. Both believe that wars must be fought to win, not in a slow police action manner that drains funds and costs lives….Thompson and Paul have also agreed on many economic issues, such as balancing the budget. They have both advocated the need for better monetary policy and the need to cut back on wasteful government spending. On education, both Thompson and Paul agree parents should have the final say, not federal bureaucracies.”

This Friday, Paul supporters open the first-for-Campaign ‘08 office of a Presidential candidate in the NewsChannel 9 viewing area, in Cleveland. Paul supporters want you to attend the opening Friday night at 5:30 at the office at 3525 Keith Street.

There’s no doubt that supporters of Ron Paul are the most passionate of the campaign season. They’re also the group of supporters most at ease using alternative media such as the internet. But they have to face the fact that Paul is still not gaining the traction among voters nationally they would have liked to see at this point in the primary season. Why is that? Post a comment and tell us! And if you were all ready to vote for Fred Thompson, why will or why won’t Ron Paul get your vote? Let us know!

And don’t forget to check out this post from earlier today which has a link to a story that makes the case Fred could still win the nomination.

UPDATE: Mike Huckabee’s local supporters also have Thompson supporters in their sights. This Saturday at 10 a.m. they want to convince you Huckabee’s your new candidate at the Country Place Restaurant at 7320 Shallowford Road.

1. Refusing to play along with a silly & superficial “show of hands” on global warming during the last GOP Iowa debate.

2. Aggressively attacking Mike Huckabee in the final South Carolina GOP debate.

Worst Moment of the Thompson campaign: Asking a crowd in Iowa to give him a round of applause.

And for those of you still mourning, take heart! There’s still a case to be made he can be the nominee!

More than any other quality this year, I think Republican voters this year (whether they’re ready to admit it or not) are going to throw their support behind the candidate most likely to win. And - no small matter here - win against Hillary Clinton. Thompson’s conservative credentials should have been enough to please if not a majority of voters, then at least a plurality. He talked the talk and for the most part walked the walk. The trouble is that this year, the walk he walks and the talk he talks sounds a bit too much like the White House’s current occupant. Fred’s folksy elocution could have stood a better chance in the last three presidential elections. But after 8 years with a Texan known for mangled grammar and ‘cowboy’ mannerisms in the White House, voters are ready for a change. Thompson either refused to point out or failed to make an adequate case how he would be ‘different’ than President Bush. And Republican voters are savvy enough to realize that it would have been hard to make a case for someone doesn’t represent a change from the status quo.

There’s also the ‘fire in the belly’ factor, or lack of it, which Thompson eerily predicted on Fox News more than 10 years ago:

“Going on the road for months at a time, and for all practical purposes just checking [in] every once in a while; I wouldn’t do that. I don’t think it has to be done that way. I know people will expect that of everyone — to run frenetically around for years. And I don’t do frenetic very well.” -Fred Thompson, interview by Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, April 11th, 1997 as excerpted from “The Fred Factor: How Fred Thompson May Change the Face of the ‘08 Campaign” by Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill

The foreshadowing goes back even further. The quote he chose to go by his name in his 1960 high school yearbook read “The lazier a man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow.”

To whom will Thompson throw his support? As of right now, the answer is no one. Thompson adviser Rich Galen tells the Politico “”I certainly don’t expect him to [endorse another candidate] now or before Florida.”Thompson has supported John McCain in the past. He endorsed his bid for the presidency in 2000 as a senator. But that may be tougher to do this year, when ideological purity, at the moment, seems to be a matter of importance with many Republicans (importance that diminishes the sooner a Democratic candidate emerges as the front-runner) . Some high-profile members of the GOP have distanced themselves from McCain, and it’s possible Thompson will wait for a clear nominee to emerge after a frenetic and bitter primary season before he lends his support to any candidate.

One of Thompson’s earliest and most ardent supporters has been Tennessee 3rd district Congressman Zach Wamp. In the summer before Thompson announced his candidacy, Wamp organized a meet-and-greet for Thompson with several dozen of his congressional colleagues. Wamp said repeatedly in interviews that the key to the problems President Bush has had with winning popular approval is his inability to communicate effectively. Though Thompson no longer has a chance at the top of the ticket, Wamp remains hopeful he’ll be considered for the bottom.

“I’m not going to support anybody today or tomorrow,” Wamp told the Media General News Service . “With any of these big three [John McCain, Mike Huckabee, or Mitt Romney], if they win the nomination, Fred Thompson would add a whole lot to that ticket.”

What do you think sank Thompson’s chances? Was it a lack of the ‘fire in the belly’ that’s required for a presidential campaign in this day and age? Are voters in today’s political environment rejecting a candidate who embraces conservative principles? Or was it simply that Thompson was unable to communicate effectively on the campaign trail?

Other links about Thompson:

Lloyd Garver wonders about the timing of Tuesday’s announcement at the Huffington Post.

RedState.com says charges that Fred was lazy are false and that the moral of Thompson’s saga is get in the race early.

Also on the Huffington Post, Katherine Zalesky blames the media for pumping up Thompson’s chances a little too much.

Which candidate benefits the most from Thompson’s exit? The Washington Post blog Behind the Numbers looks at what kind of voters chose Thompson in the early primaries.

The Tennessee Democratic Primary wasted no time in expressing glee in both Thompson’s demise and the prospects that the GOP race for Tennessee voters is no longer a foregone conclusion.

A head-to-head matchup at RealClearPolitics.com shows Thompson would have had a tough race against Hillary Clinton.