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Fred Thompson is coveted by conservatives for a number of reasons, both style and substance, separating him from his opponents.

For substance, Fred has a record of fighting the type of corruption that is drowning Washington DC. He supports states rights, a founding principle of America, forgotten since Ronald Reagan left office. He is unambiguously against illegal immigration. He is unambiguously for gun ownership rights. Fred supports the FairTax.

Fred Thompson has never worn a dress, passed gun control laws, or welcomed illegal aliens to his city. He is not a blue state governor who has flip-flopped on more issues than anybody other than Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. The one flip-flop he has is on McCain-Feingold, and he honestly admits his mistake. He has never supported rewarding illegal aliens with a path to citizenship, inviting 60 million more into the country.

Fred is charming in a way no other presidential candidate is, in a folksy, southern fashion, though Obama is probably equally charismatic in his own way. Fred's face is known to the vast majority of Americans because of his movies and especially his TV role on Law and Order.

People think of him as "Fred", not Giuliani, Romney, or McCain. "Hillary" invokes distaste and horrible memories. "Barack" doesn't exactly resonate with voters.

Perhaps his biggest advantage, so far unmentioned in the mainstream press, is that Fred had a long run substituting for Paul Harvey, during which 10s of millions of seniors were comforted and entertained by his voice. The effect of that radio spot could very well work like Roosevelt's fireside chats. Look for Fred to skyrocket in the polls once seniors connect Fred to that voice.

Fred naturally reminds people of Ronald Reagan, but it remains to be seen if he can capture that on the campaign trail. Reagan exuded passion in a way I have yet to see from Fred. I just hope he turns out to be strongly libertarian.

Learn more about this author, Mark Luedtke.
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