No. I do think if Thompson announces, he'll be the frontrunner inside a month... but I'm not basing that on anything but my gut and what I know of Senator Thompson.
You might be right about that now. If he runs, I too believe he'll be a very strong and formidable candidate. Sorry about my earlier confusion over what you meant by the FR poll.
Can you imagine Hillary and Fred in a National Debate?
Fred would wipe the floor with her.
He has a great voice and a great presence, and while we'd like to focus on the issues, that matters. I've never smelt a whiff of scandal surrounding him, and in fact he built his early career on rooting out corruption, in the cases depicted in the movie "Marie" and as counsel to the Watergate committee.
That's why I find it interesting that Howard Baker is one of the folks urging him to run -- Baker is most remembered for his work on Watergate, and respected on both sides of the aisle for not tolerating corruption in his own party. Thompson, with his mentor Baker behind him, would not give much purchase to the "culture of corruption" attacks by the Dems.
The only downside is that I'd miss him on "Law & Order." Once he's officially a candidate, I can't see NBC and it's affiliates keeping him on the air -- there could be an equal-time stink. For that reason, I wouldn't expect an official announcement until April or May, when the rest of this season's episodes are in the can and the writers have a chance to give the character a graceful exit.