Posted on 04/04/2007 3:43:07 PM PDT by SubGeniusX
It looks as if Fred Thompson is getting ready to run for president. Friends of the former Tennessee senator turned actor (anonymous to protect their relationship) say he's increasingly tempted to enter the 2008 Republican primaries, fueled in part by new polls that show he's got a serious shot at the White House. A Gallup poll released last week found Thompson ranked No. 3 behind front runners Rudy Giuliani and John McCain with 12 percent support among Republicans—all before he's even formally launched a campaign. Last week Thompson was spotted in Washington lunching with former Senate majority leader Bill Frist, who has publicly urged his longtime friend to run for president. On April 18, Frist and Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp will host Thompson on Capitol Hill, where he'll meet with House and Senate members to discuss his possible candidacy. Wamp, who heads a draft-Thompson committee, told NEWSWEEK that so many lawmakers have expressed interest in the meeting that organizers had to reserve a bigger room and extend Thompson's visit from one hour to almost a full day. "I really believe he's in," Wamp says. "I think it's only a matter of him getting his personal affairs in order."
One longtime Thompson friend, who declined to be named while discussing the former senator's personal life, tells NEWSWEEK that Thompson is looking into his contract obligations to "Law & Order" and talking with producers about how his run could affect the franchise. Election law requires equal air time for candidates. If enforced, the law could mean that more than 100 episodes over the past five seasons of "Law & Order" and its various spinoffs might have to be removed from the airwaves during Thompson's run—or other candidates could demand equal air time...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Interesting twist ...
Sounds like a common sense stretch to me.
But hey - laws are funny things - what’s common sense got to do with anything these days.
Take your time Fred - the suspense may have more value to you than reality.
ping ... Thought this might interest you guys...
It depends upon how the competition feels. They may be gracious enough to not make it an issue, but I doubt the competition will let it slide that easily.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the network was nominally compensated for their loss from one source or another, legally of course. Then again, perhaps they may believe they will reap a windfall once the ‘equal air time’ requirement is no longer an issue.
I seriously doubt this issue would stop Mr. Thompson from entering the contest.
Gee, ya think this means the MSM will stop covering Slimy Willie, as he is constantly promoting HRCs candidacy? or should we just demand equal time, every time they
show his, rapist son of a rapist, face, on TV?
>Bo)
It’s not like they could never run them again...just not during the campaign. There are like 3 million episodes of L&O. They could even do a whole post election day Arthur Branch marathon celebration and grab lots of publicity and viewers. I don’t see a big problem here.
They could just run reruns of the show before he was on and get a new actor/ new district attorney for next season.
I can just see the beginning of next year’s show:
Lawyer 1: “What happened to Arthur Branch”
Laywer 2: “the political bug bit him”
Laywer 1: “happens to the best of them”
Then after that, no more mentions.
A serious candidate would not worry about his options. Nor would he worry about a broken contract with a TV network. He would run, period.
Big $$ losses in Sydication ...
That’s how they do it...of all shows, L&O is probably the easiest to leave. None of the original cast is still there. Waterston could get hit by a bus tomorrow and the show would go on with a new guy...
DON’T BE MISLED-—WE’LL WIN WITH FRED.
So, case closed, it's legal.
Temporary losses. More like a deferment really. They’d be able to air them win or lose, after the election is over. If he wins and runs again, 4 years later, they’d have to take them off again for that campaign...hardly a dealbreaker.
It’s not like the show is going to lose the ability to show all its reruns because of this. They have like 15 years of other reruns to show.
Just rereun the older espisodes. There are tons of them.
Thats BS and wrongheaded... I would lose respect for a candidate that did not take his obligations seriously...
I think Thompson is doing this just right ... getting all his ducks in a row ...instead of just "jumping in"...
A serious Candidate will make sure all his obligations and commitments are met and will then be able to devote full attention to the task at hand.
If Thompson runs he will be a SERIOUS Candidate
Everything you wanted to know about Fred but were afraid to ask...
I support Fred and hope he runs ... and it seems like he’s doing it right ... I think he has a good shot ... (maybe even the best)
“Election law requires equal air time for candidates. If enforced, the law could mean that more than 100 episodes over the past five seasons of “Law & Order” and its various spinoffs might have to be removed from the airwaves during Thompson’s run—or other candidates could demand equal air time.”
Good thing Arthur Branch isn’t running.
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