Fred Thompson Considering A 2008 Run
Fred Dalton Thompson - actor, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, author, GOP political strategist, attorney, think tank scholar, and more - may be ready for a change.
The versatile 64-year-old, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's crime and punishment drama "Law & Order" and all of its spinoffs, said Sunday that he is considering running for president.
"I'm giving some thought to it, going to leave the door open" and decide in the coming months, said Thompson, adding that his consideration of the idea is "not really a reflection on the current field" of candidates.
"I'm just going to wait and see what happens," said the former Senator from Tennessee, commenting in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
"I wanted to see how my colleagues who are on the campaign trail do now, what they say, what they emphasize, what they're addressing, and how successful they are in doing that, and whether or not they can carry the ball in next November."
Thompson said he began thinking about running after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (Thompson's former boss, having run Baker's 1972 re-election campaign) and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible GOP candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.
"I think people are somewhat disillusioned. I think a lot of people are cynical out there. I think they're looking for something different. ... and I think that they're going to be open to different things," he said.
"It will be interesting to me as I listen to people and learn and watch what's going on and what's the reaction, and the poll numbers and so forth, as to whether or not my instinct on that is right."
On the issues, Thompson said he:
Thompson said he is not setting a deadline to make a decision and believes he won't be at a disadvantage if he waited until summer. "The lay of the land will be different in a few months than it is today, one way or the other."
He added, "One advantage you have in not ... having this as lifelong ambition is that if it turns out that your calculation is wrong, it's not the end of the world."
Thompson, the minority counsel in the Watergate investigation, wrote a book about the experience: "At That Point in Time: The Inside Story of the Senate Watergate Committee."
Even he hadn't put pen to paper, Thompson would still be memorable for his role in the 1973 Watergate hearings, which were televised and recorded for posterity.
Thompson was the one to ask Alexander Butterfield, an aide to White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, what would become a sensational question - "Are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?" - prompting a sensational answer: "Yes, sir."
In 1994, nearly twenty years later, Thompson was elected to the Senate to fill the unexpired term of Vice President Al Gore. He was chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and left the Senate in 2003 to resume his acting career.
Thompson has appeared in over 20 films including "The Hunt for Red October," "Cape Fear," and "In the Line of Fire."
While maintaining a list of acting credits that could spark envy in any colleague, Thompson has kept an active hand in more weighty pursuits and is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning although officially independent think-tank. Thompson's area of expertise: National Security and Intelligence Issues, focusing on China, North Korea and Russia.