Fred Thompson: In

I'm sure we'll get a whole series of "official" announcements, but for now we'll have to settle for his minions' confirmation: Fred Thompson is running.

Matt Yglesias thinks Thompson's weakness is that he was a Senator (and a distinctly mediocre one, at that). Others think he's going to be the GOP's Wes Clark (I was having the same conversation with Justin last night, actually -- he suggested that it could be Thompson's laziness that makes him like Clark. Which isn't to say The General is lazy -- far from it. But with Thompson, as with Clark, there's some question as to whether he's ultimately willing to do what it takes to win.) Andrew Sullivan sees a lack of substance.

I think he's got a great shot at the nomination. But in the general? It seems to me that Thompson is the kind of candidate who could do well in another kind of cycle. But this is shaping up to be a "change" election, and Thompson represents the very opposite of a change candidate. A good-ol-boy lobbyist might be a tough sell after eight years of disastrous cronyism. And while conservatives might like him because he'll tell them what they want to hear -- that the problems of the past few years are the result of an administration that wasn't conservative enough -- it's hard to imagine that the public at large are much in the mood for that kind of nonsense.

We'll look at him in greater depth soon.

Labels: Fred Thompson

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 4:40 PM