The Fred Factor

When Senator Ted Kennedy failed to adequately answer a simple question from CBS News' Roger Mudd in 1979, it was the beginning of the end of what once appeared to be a nearly-unstoppable campaign. The question was, "Senator, why do you want to be president?" And the rambling, floundering answer left everyone wondering if Kennedy was running because he believed in it or because he was expected to.

It's the same question facing Fred Thompson, the actor and former senator from Tennessee, as he prepares to formally enter the 2008 presidential campaign next week.

Thompson emerged as a darling of Republican conservatives last spring. Unhappy with their current choices for a variety of reasons, many GOP activists started wooing Thompson to give up his lucrative, and comfortable, career as an actor and commentator to pick up the conservative mantle in the presidential race. Gradually, Thompson warmed to the idea and in early June launched a "testing the waters" committee which allowed him to begin raising money and, well, test the waters.

Apparently he found those waters to be quite warm but he certainly took long enough to make that determination. Those of us who follow such things were led to think that Thompson would launch his campaign in July. That timeline slipped into August, and now September. In the meantime, his nascent campaign has been racked with staffing changes and reported internal wrangling. And, more importantly, his opponents have been busy shoring up and expanding their base of support. Suddenly, Republicans seem to be a little happier with their non-Thompson choices.

So far, Thompson hasn't offered up much in the way of a campaign platform and his candidacy remains more of a theory than known quantity. The public appearances he's made over the past few months have been described as lukewarm for the most part and many activists, fund-raisers and party officials have signed on to other campaigns. Looking at the early polling data, the GOP field is in flux, with Rudy Giuliani leading in most national polls but Mitt Romney ahead in the crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Despite the fact that he's getting started eight months after his fellow GOP candidates, there remains room for a new face in the race. But Thompson is likely going to have to jump in with a ready and compelling answer to Roger Mudd's question if he hopes to get very far.