I am concerned about this "fire in the belly" issue. Frankly, all of the people jumping, heck, hurling themselves headlong like lemings into a campaign for an election so early (they've been campaigning forever already, it seems) is concerning. It reminds me of herd behavior. Obamma, Hitlery, then all the pilers-on. Either a herd or vultures.
This campaign for 08 has begun waaayyy too early and I really don't see how there is sufficient information available to determine that Fred is reluctant. Could be that what we are seeing is a careful consideration of the issue before plunging headlong. Or, he could be giggling to himself that some love him for pres. while he has no intention of running at all. There's just not enough information to know. And, the absence of information is not proof.
I think he's getting free publicity and buzz while the others spend campaign money.
I heard an ad on the radio from rudy asking people to join his campaign. He paid for that ad. Meanwhile, millions of people heard Fred Thompson on paul harvey's radio show - and he's getting paid to do it!
In a sense, I agree with you completely. This is starting too early.
But it's started.
And, it's going to start this early or earlier for pretty much the rest of our lives. Media, money, and the times are changing how we elect Presidents. It's one thing to not like it, but it's another to ignore it. As FReepers, we can sit around and complain about how things were better when campaigns didn't start so early. We're not running for anything.
If we were, someone else would eat our lunch.