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This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 20, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!" LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST CO-HOST: One candidate is seeing some challenges, though, in the polls. And that's Fred Thompson, who was in last place in the latest New Hampshire survey, second place in most national polls. And joining us right now from Washington is Jeri Thompson, the wife of Fred Thompson. Jeri, it's great to see you. JERI...

CHARLESTON — West Virginia supporters of Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson expect to welcome his wife to the Mountain State on Monday. Jeri Thompson is scheduled to meet with supporters and volunteers in Charleston, though the campaign’s state chapter says details were still being finalized. Thompson would be at least the third presidential candidate’s spouse to include West Virginia on the 2008 campaign trail. Former President Bill Clinton raised cash for his wife’s Democratic bid while in town for last month’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner keynote appearance. The wife of Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards was to headline an October fundraiser...

A Google alert this morning brought an article about a speech in which NBC's Lester Holt claimed that he and his MSM colleagues "are perfectly capable of putting [their] personal bias aside." Holt went to state that "the level of organized attacks against news organizations from the blogosphere and even from competitors in recent years is unprecedented and disturbing." Less than an hour later there was Holt on the Today show . . . which proceeded to run a segment typifying the very kind of bias he claims the MSM is "perfectly capable" of putting aside.

This next election is shaping up to be the most important decision America has made in many decades. In fact, depending on how Americans choose to vote in the democratic primaries, it could be the most important election since the very first, way back in 1789. For the first time in history, the United States has two candidates — one a woman, one a man of color — who have very good chances of becoming the next leader of the free world. That’s not to say that there weren’t others before Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who threw their hat...

Though she protested at Maria Shriver's women's conference last week that she is really not involved and mostly into the mom thing with her young children, it was clear in the Golden State this week that Jeri Thompson -- a former political consultant -- is front and center, literally, at her husband's press events in Sacramento and San Francisco, where she sat and observed it all. In Sacramento, Mrs. Thompson took to the hallways before the event, armed with a big smile and a firm handshake, gamely introducing herself, energetically circulating among the crowd of conservative legislators who had endorsed...

In a startling admission, the wife of Fred Thompson, the Republican presidential contender, confessed last week that the “bone-crushing” pressure on candidates’ wives was like “walking down the street with no clothes on”. She was “terrified of embarrassing Fred”, she added. “It would break my heart.” Jeri Thompson, 41, was attending a conference on women chaired by Maria Shriver, the wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who quizzed her on her reputation. “I’ve read everything, from you are the campaign mastermind to you are the campaign strategist, you are the trophy wife, you are everything,” said Shriver. “Which is the right depiction...

Forum part of the annual Women's Conference When Maria Shriver gathers five wives of 2008 presidential candidates for a forum next week, it will be a first-of-its-kind event. What it won't be is a debate. "I don't want them to spend their time at this conference saying, 'My husband thinks this and my husband thinks that,'" Shriver said. "One of the criticisms of (presidential) debates is that people don't get to know who the people are, that they are canned. I am hoping that we will have a very real conversation with five women who have extraordinary lives and that...

The presidential campaign is heating up. Thankfully, our press is focusing on important issues, such as Fred Thompson's wife. As it goes, Thompson, who had been divorced 20 years, met her at a supermarket in 2000. She is 24 years his junior, but something clicked. He carried her groceries to her car. She invited him to a party. They married in 2002 and now have two children. And now, according to The New York Times Fashion & Style section, Thompson's young wife is spurring debate in Internet chat rooms, cable television and talk radio. Is America ready for a president...

There's a debate coming up. Fred has made it pretty clear in the past that these little dog and pony shows don't do much for him as far as anyone getting any REAL chance to speak up and speak out. In fact, not so far back I mentioned his quote about accepting the fact that he needed to "be a good boy and stand in line and wait for them to throw me a fish just like everybody else." He continues to field the pot-shots about being lazy...that's fine-no one seems interested enough challenge his policy positions or his general...

Jeri Thompson: The woman behind the man Naperville-raised Jeri Thompson is GOP hopeful's biggest cheerleader Recent months have seen Jeri Thompson painted a variety of ways in the press, from doting mom to trophy wife. She says she knew that would happen, but because she has granted few interviews, it can be hard to tell who she really is. The Sun had an exclusive opportunity to get to know the 41-year-old Naperville native a little better one afternoon last week. She sat down to talk before attending a major Chicago fundraiser for her husband, Fred Thompson, 65. The recently...

Here's how Jeri Kehn Thompson felt when she learned her husband, the former senator named Fred, had decided to run for president: “I felt so sick. I was depressed. I didn’t want to throw my husband to the snakes.” We learn this and more in a kind of coming-out interview in People magazine, coming out today. It's titled "No Trophy Wife" because, absent any information to the contrary, many in American society make assumptions about a 65-year-old man being married to a beautiful woman 24 years younger. The story opens with the former Jeri Kehn in sweatpants and ragged nails...

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...

Speaking of a here-we-go-again story, the AP this morning has revived the Jeri Thompson as trophy wife story again. This is an extremely demeaning charge leveled at the wife of Fred Thompson that keeps resurfacing, over and over, in the liberal press. The thrust of the story is that she is a brainless hottie that Thompson only grabbed up because she is great arm candy. But Jeri Thompson is an accomplished and driven individual in her own right and for the MSM to continually claim she is nothing but a "trophy wife" slights her own achievements. WASHINGTON (AP) - Jeri...

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Mr. & Mrs. Fred Thompson will be interviewed on Hannity & Colmes tonight.

Forty-one-year-old Jeri Thompson, the subject of much rumor and innuendo since her 65-year-old husband Fred began mulling a presidential run, says she’s never been “an older-man-dater kind of girl.” Speaking to People magazine in her first interview since her husband declared his candidacy, she recalls being initially attracted by Fred’s passion for a campaign finance investigation. Of the allegations that she’s a “trophy wife,” she says it’s “hard not to be defensive” when she thinks back on how hard she’s worked. “I almost think they had to fabricate that trophy-wife stuff because there’s nothing interesting to say,” she said. The...

Jeri Thompson: I'm no trophy wife 13 minutes ago Jeri Thompson, wife of GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson, shakes off the "trophy wife" label critics have tagged her with for being 24 years younger than her husband. "It's hard not to be defensive," she told People magazine in her first solo interview. "To think back on how hard you've worked, and all anybody thinks about is that you're a trophy wife." In a story for Monday's issue, Thompson said: "I almost think they had to fabricate that trophy-wife stuff because there's nothing interesting to say." Jeri Thompson is a Naperville,...

Sources close to Fred Thompson’s campaign tell The Brody File that Fred's wife, Jeri Thompson will be featured in People Magazine. The article is expected to run next week. Jeri Thompson has pretty much stayed behind the scenes and not granted interviews. Clearly, what the People Magazine article will show is a different side of her, a side that shows her to be a mom of two young children. A lot of stories have been written about her (many of them not very flattering) but let’s remember here that while she’s active in her husband’s campaign, she’s more active in...

The presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton has unleashed something new upon the political landscape: the wives. More than any previous presidential campaign, the candidates' wives -- especially on the Democratic side -- are stepping forward, speaking out and strutting their own stuff. Outspokenness is suddenly a virtue. Hillary is, in fact, running not only against front-runners Barack Obama and John Edwards, but against their equally powerful and ambitious wives. Ironically, the trend of first lady as co-contender began with Hillary when husband Bill introduced a twofer presidency. Elect me and you get my smart wife, too, he told voters. That...

Billed as a savior of conservatives left cold by 2008 Republican White House hopefuls, screen star Fred Thompson Friday dips a toe into the race in Iowa. But has his rescue mission come too late? The craggy former senator's visit to supporters in the strategic state is the latest signal that an official campaign launch is imminent. Thompson, star of internationally syndicated crime drama "Law Order," had been expected to take the plunge a few months ago. Now the smart money is on an early September debut -- four months before first nominating contests. A Thompson campaign aide declined to...