Fred made his long-awaited visit to Capitol Hill today.  The title of the article says it all!!

The welcome for Fred Thompson wasn’t just warm, it was effusive. The former Tennessee senator and actor is still weighing whether to run for the GOP presidential nomination but House Republicans who met with him Wednesday gushed over the prospects of Thompson candidacy.

They called him presidential, a leader, a proven conservative, an exciting prospect and “a breath of fresh air.

“I wanted to come over and see some of my old friends and make some new friends and tell them what was on my mind and listen and to see what was on their minds,” Thompson said in a brief statement to reporters camped outside the Capitol Hill Club.

“We had a good talk. I enjoyed it, and we’ll be seeing some more of each other I’m sure,” added Thompson…

Read the full article here!

Here’s a super article by Cal Thomas on Thompson:

I have no idea whether Fred Thompson, former senator from Tennessee, will run for the Republican nomination for president, but he should.

He has Ronald Reagan’s communication skills and speaks plainly in ways most people can understand. Anyone who has listened to him substitute for Paul Harvey on ABC News Radio senses that, in this, he follows in Reagan’s footsteps. Radio is an intimate medium. People who are able to connect with a radio audience often can connect on TV and in person. Thompson, the actor, plays other people. On radio and in news interviews, he “plays” himself.

Thompson conveys Middle American, common sense values. When he is asked a question, he doesn’t sound as if he’s giving a poll-tested pabulum answer. Agree or not, his statements spring from conviction.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Fred is the hot topic in Stephen F. Hayes’ cover story in the latest issue of The Weekly Standard:

Representative Zach Wamp, a fellow Tennesseean who is running an effort to “Draft Fred,” tells me he expects 60 congressional Republicans to show up early next week at a meet-and-greet with Thompson. Mark Corallo, who has volunteered to answer press inquiries for Thompson, has been getting dozens of calls each day–not only from reporters, but from Republicans around the country who have seen his name in the newspaper and tracked him down at his private consulting firm to sign up for a Thompson campaign. Politicians are reaching out to Bill Frist to offer their support. Says Frist: “I have governors who have called me, fundraisers I’ve known from my days as majority leader who are ready to go.”

All of this, for a candidate who has not yet announced for anything.

Read the full article here.

Jonathan Last (Philadelphia Enquirer) posted a nice piece about Fred’s most impressive communications skills. Here’s a snippet:

… a good deal of Thompson’s appeal is wrapped up in his ability to communicate. Like most competent politicians, Thompson gives a good speech and knows how to mingle. However, where he truly excels is in more informal settings - answering questions on Meet the Press or doing radio commentary for Paul Harvey. Thompson has a gift for being at once both penetrating and plainspoken. His clarity and directness of speech are an enormous virtue.

Check out the full article here.

Former Clinton advisor Dick Morris has a good piece on the impact of Fred Thompson potentially entering the race.  He writes:

The Thompson numbers are important in two respects: They show that McCain is continuing to slip and slide as his campaign seems to lose momentum every day. But they also matter because Newt Gingrich, the other looming presence over the race, is badly trailing behind the undeclared Thompson, who seems to be picking up Newt’s voters. So if Newt stays out until September, as he has vowed he would, the survey indicates that Fred would obliterate him in the meantime and make it all but impossible for him to run. It looks like Republicans are still looking for an ideal candidate and take Thompson quite seriously.

Read the full column. 

Senator Thompson laid out his stance on taxes in an op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday (nicely timed with tax day today, huh?). Here are the key parts:

Now, as before, politicians are itching to fund their pet projects with the short-term revenue increases that come from tax hikes, ignoring the long-term pain they always cause. Unfortunately, the tax cuts that have produced our record-breaking government revenues and personal incomes will expire soon. Because Congress has failed to make them permanent, we are facing the worst tax hike in our history. Already, worried investors are trying to figure out what the financial landscape will look like in 2011 and beyond.

This issue is particularly important now because massive, unfunded entitlements are coming due as the baby-boom generation retires. We simply cannot afford higher taxes if we want an economy able to bear up under the strain of those obligations. And beyond the issue of our annual federal budget is the nearly $9 trillion national debt that we have not even begun to pay off.

To face these challenges, and any others that we might encounter in a hazardous world, we need to maintain economic growth and healthy tax revenues. That is why we need to reject taxes that punish rather than reward success. Those who say they want a “more progressive” tax system should be asked one question:

Are you really interested in tax rates that benefit the economy and raise revenue–or are you interested in redistributing income for political reasons?

You can read the full article here.

People who worked for Fred in his U.S. Senate office have great things to say about him. Here’s what Kelvin, Mandy, and David are saying about Fred’s potential run:

“The Fred Thompson I know first ran for the Senate out of a sense of duty and obligation. He left his law and acting career for the grind of the campaign and the office because he felt that the country was heading in the wrong direction and the Senate needed more people in it who were there to do what was right and not just be a senator.”
- Kelvin Moxley (worked for Fred, 1995-2002)
Read Kelvin’s full article here.
And be sure to check out Kelvin’s website!

“Fred Thompson is the real deal. How do I know? I used to work for him. He has earned my respect and the respect of Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Tennesseans and the American people alike through his honest and no-nonsense approach to politics. He is a principled man who possesses the ability to cross over party lines and has the thoughtfulness and vision to honor, preserve and defend our civil liberties. Furthermore, he has the ability to lead America in today’s most ambitious foreign diplomatic landscape. Fred Thompson has my vote!”
- Mandy Thomas (worked for Fred, 1994-1999)

“Some believe Fred Thompson should run for President because, like Reagan, he is an actor whose star power could catapult him to White House. They are wrong. Fred should run because he is a trustworthy civic servant, a reliable and steady presence, and a strong leader. He portrays tough men onscreen because he is a tough man. He commanded respect in the Senate, and he would command the respect of the world as President.”
- David Sanders (worked for Fred, 2000)

Iowans for Fred Thompson has the scoop on a new Bloomberg/LA Times poll that has Fred Thompson pulling into second place in a new poll of likely Republican primary voters.  The LA Times writes:

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain, once considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has fallen to third place in a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, and is running behind Fred Thompson, an actor and former senator who has not even entered the race.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani leads the crowded field of announced and potential contenders with support from 29% of probable Republican primary voters surveyed, followed by Thompson with 15% and McCain with 12%. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and a fundraising powerhouse, had 8%.

When looking at this, it is important to remember that Fred hasn’t even decided that he is running yet.  Despite that he is out polling candidates that have been running for months or years.

Don Surber had a good Fred column in today’s Charleston Daily Mail. The column focuses on Fred’s request that U.S. Highway 43 in Lawrenceburg, TN not be named after him.

He starts out quoting Fred’s statement:

“I must say that I am very appreciative of my friends in Lawrenceburg and Lawrence County who originally had this idea,” Thompson wrote.

“The fact that they would want to do this is more important to me than the naming itself.

“My daddy’s car lot was on that stretch of road, so it’s special to me, but the fact is that I didn’t build it and I didn’t pay for it. The taxpayers did.

“So it is entirely appropriate that it remain U.S. Highway 43 the way I remember it when I was a boy.”

And closes the column with this:

But as my old Army buddy, Jim Withem, wrote: “You have to love a man that still refers to his father as ‘daddy.’ C’mon Fred, it’s time to declare your candidacy.”

I may be a fool, but Jim ain’t.

Read the full article.

Jason McBride of Post Political blog emailed in to point us to his open letter to Fred asking him to run. Here is how he closes the letter:

Senator Thompson, please consider the opportunities at stake here. At a time when America, and the world for that matter, are in dire need of leadership, I believe that you would make us proud in becoming the next President of the United States. If indeed you are seeking the feedback of your peers, than allow me to do what I can in a simple letter to you, by saying that I, and many that I know, would support your candidacy.

I hope that this letter will find it’s way to you, as I’m sure thousands already have. But I wanted to do my part, in being yet another citizen of this great country, in asking you to represent my vote as the next Republican nominee for president. Good luck in whatever decision you make Senator Thompson, and God bless.

The whole thing is worth a read.

If you have written a similar letter, let us know in the comments so we can link to you.