Rich Galen is a veteran of Republican campaigns, former press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich, Internet-based political commentator and (lately) senior adviser to former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, the lawyer-actor who recently declared his candidacy for president. He spoke to the Austin American-Statesman last week during Thompson's Austin stop, which included a visit to a Dell Inc. manufacturing plant in Round Rock and a fundraiser at the Driskill Hotel. The conversation started with the conventional wisdom that Thompson may have entered the Republican fray too late compared to others who have been stumping for months. Austin American-Statesman: As...