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Steve Gill just announced on his radio show this morning that he has penned a book on the Tennessee political subject burning up all forms of media, old and new. That subject is, of course, the political aspirations and plans of Fred Dalton Thompson. The Fred Factor will no doubt be a pro-Fred book as it is written by a pro-Fred radio talker but it has been thoroughly researched and will include an extensive biography section as well as the obligatory polemics. I'm excited to read it.

Last night's Republican debate stage was filled with Republican heavy weights, all qualified and all working hard to distinguish themselves in the race for the 2008 presidential nomination. But something was missing. Scripted efforts to work through their sound-bite cue cards has left conservatives still wanting for a true natural leader of a party currently searching for its soul. The big-tent philosophy prevalent in today’s Republican Party has watered down core conservative values over the last few elections, until true conservatives wonder if their party is even worth salvaging any more. Last night's debate was typical of modern political debates,...

The news of late is filled with headlines about Fred Thompson, even if he says nothing. In fact, it seems that the less he says, the more news there is about him. There is a growing list of groups and prominent people speculating about whether Thompson will run for president of the United States. In some polls, he is the front-runner, even though he is not yet a candidate. By contrast, when I ran for Congress, the news media ignored my campaign. (Keep in mind that, had I won, I would've been Fred Thompson's representative in Washington … when he's...

LOS ANGELES -- Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson, who attends his first official political event in Orange County, CA tonight, has authorized a cadre of top Republican operatives to prepare a presidential campaign on his behalf. Republicans said that four circles of Thompson allies are at work. The first, consisting of Republicans with ties to Thompson's home state of Tennessee, includes ex-Sen. Maj. Leader Howard Baker, Tom Ingram, chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander, current TN GOP chairman Bob Davis, and Mark Tipps, a former chief of staff to ex-Sen. Bill Frist. Tipps, a Bush fundraiser and lawyer, is advising Thompson...

WASHINGTON: Fred Thompson plays a district attorney on TV and, in real life, a commentator on the Internet — two roles that give him plenty of visibility for a presidential bid. In recent weeks, the former Tennessee senator, who is considering a run for the Republican nomination, has used conservative Web sites to opine about tax cuts, the Virginia Tech shootings, even the NFL draft. "Whenever I've seen one of those 'Gun-free Zone' signs," Thompson mused at National Review Online, "I've always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don't mean much to the sort of man...

'Law & Order's' Fred Thompson, a former senator, could fall victim to equal-time provisions. The crowded field of Republican presidential contenders is not the only group waiting nervously to see if Fred Thompson jumps into the race. For television networks that air programs starring the former Tennessee senator, his 2008 candidacy could cause a host of complications relating to the equal-time rule, which regulates how broadcasters treat political candidates. The fact that Thompson's gig on "Law & Order" places him on one of TV's most ubiquitous series makes the situation even thornier. In the last two decades, the gravelly voiced...

Fred D. Thompson never took an acting class, performed in summer stock or dreamed of Hollywood fame. But one day a big-name director, preparing a film about political corruption that Thompson had exposed, asked him to play himself in the movie. A star was born. Thompson, then a lawyer, went on to make 23 movies, countless television programs and millions of dollars. Now, the accidental actor is being urged to take another role he has not been gunning for, as a growing crowd of conservatives clamors for him to run for the Republican nomination for president. Other candidates have been...

Tuesday, May 1: • EXCLUSIVE! Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson sits down with us tonight. Will he or won't he enter the 2008 presidential race?

5/1: The Frontrunner Isn't Even Running For the first time since its inception, a GOPer built on a previous month's lead in the GOP Bloggers straw poll. Non-candidate Fred Thompson gained 14 points, currently taking in 52% of first-place votes cast in the 4/07 poll. Rudy Giuliani's numbers didn't budge (16%-15%), while Newt Gingrich's numbers tumbled from 14% to 6% (the Blogometer guesses Newt's 4/10 Global Warming debate performance is the cause of the fall). Disheartened Gingrich fans seemed to flock to Thompson as Mitt Romney moved into third place without gaining any support. If Thompson finally does run, we'll...

One of Ronald Reagan’s key advisers, Michael Deavers, has endorsed Senator Thompson. This is a great feather in Thompson’s cap. It is looking more and more like Thompson is a serious candidate. ____________ By Tim Shipman in Washington, Sunday Telegraph, UK Ronald Reagan’s closest allies are throwing their weight behind the White House bid by the late president’s fellow actor, Fred Thompson. The film star and former Republican senator from Tennessee will this week use a speech in the heart of Reagan country, in southern California, to woo party bigwigs in what insiders say is the next step in his...

Results -- Out of 188 ballots cast: 1. Fred Thompson -- 116 votes 2. Newt Gingrich -- 47 votes 3. Rudy Guiliani -- 12 4. Mitt Romney -- 7 5. Jim Gilmore -- 3 6. Huckabee, McCain and Paul -- l vote each 7. Receiving zero votes: Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Tompson

The writer behind the blog "PA for Hizzoner, Rudy Giuliani" put the best possible spin on the results of this weekend's presidential straw poll at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, a key barometer of GOP activist sentiment in the state. The headline was "Rudy Leads All Presidential Candidates," but the blogger had to confess the headline "may be a little deceptive," since theformer mayor actually got 16% and tied for second with Newt Gingrich, who spoke at the conference. The winner was non-declared candidate Fred Thompson, who "slaughtered the field" with 35% of the total vote. Mr. Thompson was a non-candidate...

Salon's Republican chronicler, Michael Scherer, dug in to several South Carolina county Republican conventions, and concluded, in an article about dirty politicking in the state, that, yes, Gov. Mitt Romney's South Carolina field operation is probably paying for delegates to state conventions in the hope that said generosity (and a healthy dollop of Mitt Love, Mitt appearances, and Mitt mailings, ) would help Romney win the convention straw polls. Scherer was unable to convince Romney aides to admit the obvious -- of course they're paying -- and in doing so, seems to have trapped a Romney organizer in a bit...

Near the end of his successful first term, Ronald Reagan was asked whether he thought his training as an actor had prepared him for the job of the Presidency. Reagan replied, "I don't see how any fellow that wasn't an actor could do this job." That is because Reagan understood that the single most important quality a successful President must bring to the job is a sense of confidence, balance, resolve and optimism. After the hand-wringing of Jimmy Carter, that is precisely what Reagan restored to the White House. It is also the jaunty confidence of Franklin Roosevelt in the...

Slate's John Dickerson has a piece up (on Slate, oddly enough) giving a pretty surface-level look at why conservatives might come to have second thoughts about Fred Thompson — or, at the very least, second thoughts about crowning him the second coming of Ronald Reagan. I think most of it is dead on, though I'm not sure any of it is fatal to a potential Thompson candidacy. First and foremost, I think Mr. Dickerson is right about how damaging Mr. Thompson's ties to John McCain could be. Mr. McCain is heavily disliked by the Republican base. But who was Mr....

Fred Thompson is nearly ready to run for president, a prospect that would change the 2008 presidential race overnight... Republicans are already enthused about Thompson, an actor-turned-senator-turned-actor, who is better known to Americans than most other candidates. Speculation and media interest are keeping his star on the rise. He's running second in GOP polls, just behind ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ahead of Arizona Sen. John McCain. It's an enviable position to be in, considering he has done essentially no campaigning or fund-raising. Sure, some of that is due to name recognition from years in movies and on...

It's understandable that Fred Thompson fever is increasing around the time of the White House Correspondents' Dinner. In spring, Washington's political class falls in love with B-list celebrities. But the Thompson love fest is no mere fling. It will endure as long as only 65 percent of Republicans say they are happy with the current field of presidential candidates and as long as the actor and semiretired politician continues to flirt. Last Wednesday, Thompson met with 50 or so House Republicans and left most of them with the impression that he was running for president.

Signs of Intelligence? One of the things that's got to be going through a lot of peoples' minds now is how one man with two handguns, that he had to reload time and time again, could go from classroom to classroom on the Virginia Tech campus without being stopped. Much of the answer can be found in policies put in place by the university itself. Virginia, like 39 other states, allows citizens with training and legal permits to carry concealed weapons. That means that Virginians regularly sit in movie theaters and eat in restaurants among armed citizens. They walk, joke...