Fred Dalton Thompson (Republican-TN), the actor who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's "Law and Order" - and the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee - is mulling over a run for his party's presidential nomination. Friends and colleagues say he'll announce his decision in May.While that may be a bit late in this cycle's game to catch up to frontrunners John McCain and Rudy Guiliani, Thompson's star status and solid conservative credentials will, I think, fill the void created by doubts Republican voters have about the Arizona Senator and former New York Mayor.
Against Hillary Clinton, Thompson would win a massive landside victory. Against the other Democrats, he wins comfortably - no matter what Iraq looks like, no matter how unpopular George W. Bush is, no matter how strong the case is for a change in party management at the White House.
Remember, the Democrats once dismissed the chances of another actor who wanted to be president. That was in 1980. This contest will take place in 2008, when Americans are more star-struck and dumb-downed that ever before. An actor such as Fred Thompson could take President Bush's same disasterous polices, wrap them in shiney new paper, and present them with a charm and personality the current Democratic field could only wish to have (well, save Sen. Obama) and the American public would be dumb enough to fall for it.
