Ex-senator Thompson visits Congress, '08 speculation in tow
WASHINGTON -- Former senator and actor Fred D. Thompson dropped by Capitol Hill yesterday carrying the hopes of many dispirited Republicans who yearn for another presidential option, and told a large gathering of GOP House members that he's seriously considering jumping into the race.
Thompson, 64, was received enthusiastically, with offers of fund-raising help and comparisons to Ronald Reagan. Yet he also was sharply questioned about everything from his 1985 divorce to the Iraq war to abortion rights, as GOP lawmakers openly searched for an alternative to the current crop of presidential candidates.
"He's got to flesh out his campaign in a major way," said Representative Patrick McHenry , a North Carolina Republican, adding that he left the meeting with no greater sense of where Thompson stands on crucial issues.
"But actually what is significant is 45 to 50 members of Congress show up for someone who's not even in the race," McHenry said. "That's a significant statement about the field, and the current dynamics of the presidential race."
In Thompson, many Republicans see a conservative with an established Washington track record, a commanding presence, and wide name recognition stemming from his second career as an actor in the movie "The Hunt for Red October" and the "Law & Order" television series.
But while Thompson's public flirtations with a run have quickly registered in polls, questions remain over whether he is ready to commit to a presidential campaign. Some Republicans have privately expressed concern about signing on with a candidate who is unwilling to give the race his fullest attention.
In addition, there are major issues on which Thompson will have to explain his position, including past statements he has made that some see as supportive of abortion rights, and his support for the 2002 campaign finance law that is loathed by conservatives.
Yesterday, however, Thompson skated past the details. After meeting with the House members for nearly an hour, he told reporters that he wasn't making any announcements.
"I don't really have anything to say, other than the fact that I wanted to come over and see some of my old friends and make some new friends," Thompson said. "We'll be seeing some more of each other, I'm sure."
Several lawmakers said Thompson told them that he believes he wouldn't be hurt by a late announcement of his candidacy, though he declined to make a commitment to running by a particular date. He also avoided specifics on how he would handle the Iraq war, other than to say that Republicans need to better communicate the stakes in combating terrorism, the lawmakers said.
With other candidates aggressively courting GOP regulars and dialing for dollars, Thompson is in danger of losing ground to other Republicans -- and exacerbating the perception that he isn't willing to work hard enough to pursue the presidency, said Bruce Oppenheimer , a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.
"You can't be a passive candidate and get the nomination," Oppenheimer said. "He has not been in elective office since 2002. He's been perceived as somebody who's ambivalent, as a guy who has not been a terribly hard worker in politics."
Thompson's name has bubbled up in Republican circles for months as a potential alternative to the top GOP candidates: former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani ; former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ; and Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose candidacy Thompson supported in 2000.
With social conservatives skeptical of all three of the front-running candidates, Thompson's seemingly offhand remark on Fox News last month that he was "going to leave the door open" to a run fueled a mini-boom that polls immediately picked up on. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of likely Republican primary voters released last week showed Thompson surging ahead of Romney and McCain to place behind only Giuliani.
Thompson, who represented Tennessee in the Senate from 1994 through 2002, stoked speculation that he would get in the race with his disclosure last week that he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2004; his doctor pronounced his cancer to be in remission.
"There is an opening for a conservative candidate that people do not have to be convinced is conservative," said Tony Perkins , president of the conservative Family Research Council. "Thompson, from all appearances, fits that bill."
Though many lawmakers he met with yesterday said they aren't ready to commit, several made references to another actor-turned-politician -- Reagan, who, like Thompson, was known to make room for personal time while in office.
"Presidents seem to be wound up real tight these days," said Representative Zach Wamp, a Tennessee Republican who supports Thompson and organized yesterday's meeting. "Maybe we need to loosen it up one notch. Reagan was a little bit more laid-back, and a little bit more comfortable in his own skin, and a little bit more of a leader that knew where we needed to go but wasn't in that big of a hurry to get there." 