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In terms of press coverage of an undeclared candidate, former Senator Fred Thompson is second only to former Vice President Al Gore, and much of the attention Gore is receiving is due to his work on environmental issues. The buzz around Thompson is purely politics, and with good reason: conservatives are so unhappy with the ten candidates they have to choose from that Mitt Romney is starting to look good to them. This doesn't bode well for their chances come November 2008.

Enter Thompson, literally. Polls have shown that if he were in the race, the former Tennessee senator and actor would pull considerable support from the current front runners as well as many who are as yet undecided.

Of critical importance to the GOP is the fact that Thompson is the only viable southerner they have. The South has been critical to the success of the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan, and most analysts have grave doubts about the ability of any of the three current front runners to galvanize the party's most important geographic base. And with early primaries in South Carolina, Florida, and possibly Texas, Thompson could conceivably jump out to a huge lead and never surrender it.

In this honeymoon stage Thompson currently enjoys, there is very little not to like, especially for the 47% of Republicans who are dissatisfied with all of their current presidential choices. He is well known, both from his time in Washington and his role on the hit television series Law and Order. Equally important, having left the Senate in 2002 he escaped having to cast a vote for the Iraq war that he would now have to either defend or apologize for.

Thompson is also the only Republican who can convincingly portray himself as an outsider, a huge benefit these days. In some ways, his campaign will be as much against the Washington status quo as against his opponents. He was recently quoted as saying "I think the biggest problem that we have today is what I believe is the disconnect between Washington, D.C., and the people of the United States." While the other Republican candidates must, at least to some degree, defend the Administration, Thompson is free to hammer away as he sees fit.

But like all of the other candidates, his priority in the short term will be more about money than message. His initial FEC filing was coordinated with a fundraising blitz, with over 100 "First Day Founders" raising a significant sum on the first day; this was meant to let McCain, Giuliani, and Romney that he has just as much financial muscle as they do. Several of these "First Day Founders" are the famed Pioneers or Rangers, fundraisers who raised $100K-$250K for George W. Bush in either '00 or '04.

Only time will tell if Fred Thompson is the savior the Republicans need to help them recover from their defeats in 2006 and enable them to hold the White House for another four years. What is clear is that the Republican Party faithful finally have a candidate they can be excited about.

Learn more about this author, Bruno Somerset.
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