Posted on 10/07/2007 5:29:47 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Recent months have seen Jeri Thompson painted a variety of ways in the press, from doting mom to trophy wife.
The wife of GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson says she knew that would happen, but because she has given few interviews, it can be hard to tell who she really is.
The Naperville Sun had an opportunity to get to know the 41-year-old Naperville native. She sat down for an interview before attending a major Chicago fund-raiser.
The former Jeri Kehn lived in one of Naperville's downtown neighborhoods with her mom and stepdad, Vicki and Ron Keller.
She graduated from Naperville North High School in 1984.
She studied English at DePauw University in Indiana, then worked as a media consultant and Republican strategist in Washington. She met her husband in a supermarket checkout line in 1996.
They were married in July 2002 at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Naperville, a few months before Fred Thompson stepped down from the Senate and began portraying District Attorney Arthur Branch on the TV drama "Law & Order."
The couple live near Washington in McLean, Va., with their children, Hayden, 4, and Sammy, who's not yet 1.
Q. Where did you hang out when you were a teen?
A. Well, I was pretty involved in school. I was a Starlette [dance team member]. That's probably not a cool thing to say now. Who knows what's cool, then and now? I don't really know. But I was a Starlette, and that was every day after school, so there really wasn't any hanging out. My parents were pretty strict ... about going out and stuff. But games were Friday nights.
Q. How often do you get back to town?
A. Now that we have kids, we're pretty good about it. We switch back and forth on the holidays.
Q. How are you balancing home life and being mom to small children with the intensity of campaigning?
A. It's shockingly not unlike normal life with small kids. I still wake up in the morning, and hope to get dressed and showered before I get the kids to school. Sometimes that doesn't always happen.
Q. What do you find most admirable about your husband when you look at him as a prospective leader of the free world?
A. That's actually very easy to answer: his integrity. He is someone who you want to be in the ditch with, who you would want in your foxhole. ... He's the one who makes you feel comfortable. He's had ex-girlfriends say, "I would feel better knowing Fred Thompson was president." That is a pretty amazing thing, to have so many people who have known him throughout his life feel the same.
Q. Back in July, the New York Times noted that "trophy wife" isn't really a slur, since it describes someone who made a name for herself before she was given that label. But the same piece asked if traditionally conservative voters are likely to embrace a 60-something candidate with a pretty wife 24 years his junior. What are your thoughts about all the attention that's being given to that?
A. I think conservative voters will vote for the conservative candidate, which he is.
Q. There are indications that the religious conservative arm of the party will be launching an effort to prevent a Rudy Giuliani nomination, in large part based on his liberal stance on social issues, including abortion. What is your position on that issue?
A. There is another quote that you might have heard about me, and that is that there is no space between Fred and me on policy issues. I think that's probably one of the reasons that we get along so well, and probably some of the reason that people are uncomfortable. Fred is 100 percent [anti-abortion] in his voting on that issue, he's very clear where he stands, and I am 100 percent in agreement with him.
Is this a thread that is useless w/o pictures?
Feel free...
I do appreciate the fact that the Thompson’s agree on pro-life and other political issues.
Does anyone know when Sammy’s birthday is? I’ve heard him referred to as a 10-month-old for the past six months.
There was an article posted here some time ago about his old girlfriends. They all still like him and will support him. That is quite an accomplishment. Mine are mad at me.
What grade is the "less than one year old" in, what are his grades, does he need a tutor, how are his chances for making the soccer team?
Grandpa and Jeri are so like many other above average income earners, having "trophy" children. Very sad.
Or it could be a typo.
Even 4 year old's only attend "pre-school" NOT "school" and there is no such thing as "pre-school" for 10 month olds - there is only "day care" (a/k/a babysitters).
Maybe she was talking about a former time--does she have grown kids somewhere?
No, the word “kids.” Maybe she said get the kid to school. Singular.
Seeing as how my wife and I both work, as well as other couples, day care is the only option. We often hear it refered to as “school”
I guess there are a lot of trophy kids by your standard.
Don’t look down your agenda is showing...
When you send a 4 y.o. and 1 y.o. to “school” it’s called DAYCARE (yes even 4 y.o. “preschool”). To be honest with you I wish all the “ladies” would shut up already. I don’t want Elizabeth or Michelle OR Jeri running things in the white house.
Mr. Mercat and I have started calling him my trophy husband.
We certainly are not dealing with a Britney Spears type mom here. What we have here is a beauty with brains. MSM may attempt to make her a bimbo, but I’m sure she’ll prove to be one tough cookie.
http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000024341/
According to this source, their daughter was born in October 2003 and their son in November 2006; thus she’s 4 years old and he’s 11 months old.
Maybe she’s getting some other kids to school too. Who knows?
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