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If Fred Thompson is lazy, he sure didn't act it preparing for his first debate. Over two weeks, the former Tennessee senator and his aides held more than half a dozen question-and-answer sessions. Bush's first economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, was involved, as were Vice President Cheney's daughter Liz Cheney and GOP veteran Mary Matalin. There were also two full-blown rehearsals in which Liz Cheney's husband played John McCain, Rep. Adam Putnam stood in for Mitt Romney, and former New York Sen. Al D'Amato played Rudy Giuliani. To add verisimilitude to his character, D'Amato pretended to take a phone call in...

All right, a little grab bag for you here to polish off the highlights. It starts with what J-Pod calls the most “blatant act of obnoxious misbehavior during a debate” he’s ever seen and the long, awkward silence that ensues, then segues into the candidates’ dusting off some prefab zingers as the clock runs out. Fred did well here, especially in parrying Mitt’s “Law & Order” thrust. Like MK says, not a great performance but good enough overall. (VIDEO)

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First impressions are supposed to be 90 percent of politics. If that's the case, Fred Thompson should have a decent shot at the Republican presidential nomination. The impression he created in Tuesday's Republican debate in Detroit wasn't that of a dominant figure or a replica of Ronald Reagan. But he came across as likable, knowledgeable on issues but not wonky, and unexcitable. So Thompson passed the test of whether he could run with the big boys - Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain - in the Republican race. That was the only big thing that happened in the debate....

Fred Thompson has a slight lead over Republican rival Rudy Giuliani, and Hillary Clinton has an apparent edge over fellow Democrats John Edwards and Barack Obama in the race in Colorado for the White House, according to a poll released Friday. The Ciruli Associates Poll suggested Thompson had 27 percent support among Republicans to 19 percent for Giuliani and 11 percent for John McCain. Some 29 percent of Democrats said they supported Clinton, compared to 23 percent each for Edwards and Obama, the poll said. Remaining candidates, including Republican Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, were in the single digits. The telephone...

Fred Thompson may be a late comer to the presidential race but he is apparently making up for lost time in Iowa. The latest Des Moines Register poll shows the former Tennessee Senator surging past Rudy Giuliani into second place: Romney, who has campaigned more often in Iowa than his Republican rivals, is the presidential choice of 29 percent of those who say they definitely or probably will attend the leadoff caucuses. Support for the former Massachusetts governor is essentially unchanged from an Iowa Poll taken in May, when he was the top choice of 30 percent. There’s been a...

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Conservative evangelical leaders have long openly expressed dismay over the prospect of being forced to choose between two pro-choice presidential candidates. But now, a coalition of evangelicals has gone as far as to threaten to pull their support for the Republican Party if such a candidate is selected for the last stretch of the White House race. Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family – who recently emerged from a controversy over a private email he sent criticizing Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson – says he and others in the social conservative coalition will not support Rudy Giuliani...

As the phoney "phoney soldier" controversy swirled today --and Rush is in no hurry to end it as it reflects well on him and poorly on Senate Democrats-- Fred Thompson released a statemnt blasting the attack on Rush. Rush was discussing it today, and e-in-box began to fill up with complaints that Mitt Romney had abandoned Rush. I shot off a query to the Romney campaign: What is this all about? Not only did the campaign respond immediately, Governor Romney called the show to discuss the controversy and state that Rush has "got a long record of supporting our soldiers....

For the past nine months, Mitt Romney has had a clear and explicit strategy: win Iowa, win New Hampshire and hope the momentum from those victories would carry him to the Republican nomination. For eight months, that strategy appeared to be working. But there are now signs of trouble in New Hampshire. Romney has experienced a September slide in the Granite State. At the beginning of last month, his standing in New Hampshire hovered around 30 percent. Today, it's closer to 25 percent. Three polls in the past week have recorded a decline in his support, with Rudy Giuliani and...

Now this is an amazing thing if it pans out to be true! Romney has been flooding Iowa with cash, ads, and a large organization. He has expected to come away as a clear cut winner in Iowa by all his expenditures. Yet, with all the money spent by Romney, Thompson — who hasn’t spent a penny in Iowa — is hot on Romney’s tail. This shows several things. 1) Romney’s utter weakness, and 2) Thompson’s obvious strengths. It also shows one more thing: The people of Iowa won’t be bought by a Daddy Warbucks that wants to buy the...

In South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary, the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Fred Thompson leading Rudy Giuliani 24% to 20%. That’s little changed from a month ago when Thompson held a 23% to 21% advantage. Mitt Romney has moved into third place and is now supported by 15% of South Carolina’s Likely Primary Voters while John McCain is barely in double digits at 11% support. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee earns 3% of the South Carolina vote while four other candidates split 5% and 22% are undecided. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the state’s Republican Primary voters say that Giuliani...

NEW YORK – Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani says God is a very important part of his life. "I believe in God. I pray to God, and I pray to Jesus for guidance, help,” Giuliani said in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network. “I have very, very strong views on religion that come about from having wanted to be a priest when I was younger, having studied theology for four years in college.” The former New York mayor said he feels God’s help when “in crisis and under pressure like Sept. 11, when I was dealing with prostate cancer, or...

Conventional wisdom is hardening around the proposition that Fred Dalton Thompson is too lazy, ill-prepared, tired, old, lackluster, inexperienced, inconsistent and bald to make a successful run for President. Of course, conventional wisdom rarely gets anything right. When it does, it's only by accident. In this case conventional wisdom is not just wrong but comically so. Thompson will win the Republican nomination for two reasons. First, he's a very impressive candidate. Second, there's no realistic alternative. He will win the general election for the same two reasons. Let's start by considering the Thompson's Republican competition. John McCain's candidacy may not...

Earlier this week, former Sen. Fred Thompson met privately in Washington, D.C. with senior members of the Arlington Group, a coalition of social and religious conservatives. The meeting, according to Arlington Group members present, included members who had previously met with Thompson at a private meeting in the spring, prior to Thompson's speech before the Council on National Policy. At the meeting this week Thompson answered questions and discussed his views on social issues, as well as his own faith, for more than an hour. "He's impressive, and a number of us want to help him," says a member of...

The National Rifle Association, which did not endorse President Bush in 2000 and 2004 until just a month before the general election, is considering stepping into the presidential campaign fray early next year during the primary season, the group's chief lobbyist says. While the NRA waited until October in each of the past two presidential election years before endorsing a candidate, the group plans to take a more high-profile role early in the 2008 Republican nomination process. "Historically, we have not gotten involved in primaries. We traditionally wait until after the conventions," said Chris Cox, head lobbyist for the NRA....

Over the past four months, Rasmussen Reports polling has consistently shown Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani holding the top two slots in the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination. During that time, the weekly poll results have shown Thompson’s support ranging from a low of 20% to a high of 28%. Giuliani’s range has been similar, from 19% to 27%. Although Thompson and Giuliani are the frontrunners, both men still have plenty of detractors who say they can’t possibly win the nomination. For the week ending September 23, it’s Thompson 26% and Giuliani 22%. Occupying a precarious niche somewhere between...

There have been so many dismissive or blistering articles about Fred Thompson in recent months, I half expected last weekend to see Larry, Curly or Moe lead a bumbling three-day bus tour through Florida. George Will likens the former Tennessee senator to overhyped New Coke; Robert Novak suggests the late-announcing candidate may have crashed and burned before takeoff; Dick Morris declares him clearly over his head on the campaign trail. These guys need get out of the Beltway for a few days and see what's happening on the ground in places like Florida. They're underestimating hunger among Republicans for an...

After officially declaring his candidacy, U.S. Senator Fred Thompson moves ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. One-third (32%) of those who say they will vote in a Republican primary or caucus will vote for Thompson while 28 percent will vote for Giuliani. Much further back is John McCain, who continues his downward slide with 11 percent saying they would vote for the Arizona Senator, and 9 percent who say they would vote for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. On the Democratic side, Senator Hillary Clinton continues to build...

The waiting for Fred is over; Harry Cato is on board. Fred Thompson entered the Republican presidential race early this month and was immediately endorsed by Cato, an influential South Carolina state legislator who had been courted by the other candidates. He was taken by Thompson's Tennessee roots and down-home charm. "He reminds me of my granddaddy," Cato said. Cato, a middle-of-the-roader by South Carolina Republican standards, likes Thompson's ideological profile. "He's a conservative," Cato, 49, said while sitting in the office of the trucking-supply company he runs in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. "But I'm not looking for a zealot."...