Here is Fred’s latest posting on ABC Radio’s Fred Thompson Report:

Well, he’s done it. Hugo Chavez was already systematically silencing criticism of his autocratic rule through threats and intimidation. Journalists have been threatened, beaten and even killed. Now he’s shut down the last opposition television networks in Venezuela and arrested nearly 200 protesters – mostly students. It’s a monumental tragedy and the Venezuelan people will pay the price for decades to come. Americans are also at risk as he funds anti-American candidates and radicals all over Latin America.

It’s equally tragic that the U.S. is in no position to provide the victims of this emerging dictator with the truth. There was a time, though, when Americans were on the front lines of pro-freedom movements all over the world. I’m talking about the “surrogate” broadcast network that included Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, often called “the Radios.”

Read the rest of Fred’s article here.

Washington columnist and commentator Robert Novak writes about a recent dinner Fred had with journalists here in D.C.:

FRED THOMPSON sat at the end of a long table in The Monocle restaurant on Capitol Hill Tuesday night for dinner with some 20 fellow conservatives, mostly journalists. He sent two signals just hours before word spread that he is likely to enter the presidentiak race next month. First, he sounded like a man who has decided to run for President. Second, his candidacy will be something different from other Republicans, in both substance and style.

This was one of the irregular sessions of the Saturday Evening Club, which is not a club and never meets on Saturday. The name was purloined from H.L. Mencken’s Baltimore discussion club by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., editor-in-chief of The American Spectator. Tyrrell arranges and presides over these events, always featuring a guest newsmaker — usually a Republican presidential hopeful over the past two years. Thompson’s performance Tuesday night, with his remarks off the record, helped show why many Republican insiders are ready to support him. Thompson is winning straw polls at Republican conferences and running well in polls mainly because of dissatisfaction, for varying reasons, with the three leading GOP candidates — Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. But Thompson at the dinner table confirmed the widespread perception inside the party of his potential to be an extraordinary candidate.

Read the rest of the Novak article here.

We knew it was just a matter of time….

Fred Thompson, edging toward a presidential run, is giving up his day job playing a prosecutor on the TV series “Law & Order.”

Thompson asked Wednesday to be released from the show after five seasons, series creator and executive producer Dick Wolf said.

“Although he told me he has not made a firm decision about his political future, he felt that given the creative and scheduling constraints of the upcoming season,” he should leave “Law & Order,” Wolf said in a statement.

The producer lauded Thompson’s commitment to “Law & Order” and the new TV movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” in which the actor plays a president _ Ulysses S. Grant. The film, which Wolf produced, premiered last Sunday on HBO.

Read the rest of the article here.

Fred is ALL OVER THE NEWS today as he begins to make his move to enter the presidential race.   Fred’s forming a presidential committee, filing FEC papers, preparing a website - it’s all great news!  Check out the latest from the Washington Post: 

Thompson, who has been fueling speculation that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination with a spate of appearances and speeches around the country, urged a group of donors in a conference call yesterday to each attempt to raise a total of $46,000 from 10 couples starting on June 4, according to two participants in the call. Once the money begins flowing, Thompson will begin to hire a campaign staff and set up headquarters in Washington and Nashville, his advisers said.

In addition, the nascent campaign is planning to launch a Web site in the next 10 days, according to one person familiar with campaign planning. Thompson will give a speech in Virginia this weekend and is scheduled to appear on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” next month.

The papers Thompson intends to file on Friday with the Federal Elections Commission will allow the former Tennessee senator to test the waters by raising money that could be used once he declares officially, several sources said. The committee he will establish will be called “Friends of Fred Thompson.”

“It allows for testing the waters, to see if the financial resources are going to be there to mount a campaign, set up an operation and continue to get ready to announce his candidacy,” said one source with knowledge of Thompson’s immediate plans.

Thompson’s advisers have discussed making that announcement over the July 4th weekend, using the hoopla of the national holiday as a backdrop for the official launch of the campaign. But those plans are in flux and could change, two sources said today. One source said a formal announcement is likely to come “around that time.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Here’s the latest report on Fred’s jumping into the Presidential race!!

Fred Dalton Thompson is planning to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday, announcing that week that he has already raised several million dollars and is being backed by insiders from the past three Republican administrations, Thompson advisers told The Politico.
 
Thompson, the “Law and Order” star and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, has been publicly coy, even as people close to him have been furiously preparing for a late entry into the wide-open contest.  But the advisers said Thompson dropped all pretenses on Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with more than 100 potential donors, each of whom was urged to raise about $50,000.
 
Thompson’s formal announcement is planned for Nashville. Organizers say the red pickup truck that was a hallmark of Thompson’s first Senate race will begin showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire as an emblem of what they consider his folksy, populist appeal.

A testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, and staffers will go on the payroll in early June, the organizers said. A policy team has been formed, but remains under wraps.

The supporters on Tuesday’s call make up a group the campaign is calling “First Day Founders.” When launched, the campaign will have offices in Nashville and Northern Virginia, the advisers say.

Read the rest of the article here!

We’re happy to see Rep. Blackburn’s support of Fred.  I think we can expect many more to do the same!

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Friday swung her support from the Republican presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to the as-yet-unannounced White House bid of actor-politician Fred Thompson.

Blackburn, who served as a senior adviser to the Romney campaign and as national co-chairwoman of Women for Romney, cited her long association with Thompson, a fellow Tennessee Republican, as the reason for supporting him.  

Read the rest of the article here.

Check out Fred’s latest posting - read what he has to say about growing up in this great nation of ours….

I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. The more I learned about America, the more I appreciated what those who came before us built; and how exceptional they were.

Not that there aren’t other great places to live, but America is unique. It’s not just that we are the freest and most prosperous county the world has ever seen. America has also freed more people than any other nation in history.

A lot of people have done their part to see that we are blessed with the advantages we enjoy — from hardworking pioneer mothers to the Framers of the Constitution. Memorial Day is coming up, though, and I’m thinking more about American soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice — those who died to protect our way of life and make the world safe for democracy.

Read the rest of Fred’s story here. 

Check out Fred’s latest posting about medical records on the Fred Thompson Report:

You may have heard me the other day defending the American medical system as the best in the world. That doesn’t mean, though, there aren’t problems we should fix.

One of these problems is that there’s no way for most of us to get to our medical records without jumping through hoops. Not only do we end up filling out the same medical forms over and over, we pay both in lives and money.

Some analysts say Americans pay more than 50 billion dollars unnecessarily every year due to problems getting medical records. One in five medical tests, its said, is ordered because results to a previous test have been lost. Others say that many of the 50,000 or so medical errors that result in death each year could be prevented if doctors had the patient information they need. Problems with drug interactions and allergies could also be avoided. And all these problems drive up insurance costs. 

Read the rest of Fred’s posting here.

Fred was in Stamford, Conn., tonight as the headline speaker at the annual Prescott Bush Awards Dinner (named for President H.W. Bush’s grandfather): 

Hundreds of state Republicans turned out Thursday for the party’s annual fundraising dinner to listen for signs that the pool of presidential hopefuls may have another contender.

But former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson avoided any discussion of a possible White House run and instead delivered a strong speech attacking Democrats and reminding his fellow Republicans of their GOP roots….. 

Thompson centered his message around traditional Republican policies of a strong national defense and a limited government.

“My friends, that’s the party that I joined and I bet you that’s the party you joined. I’m sure that’s the party our country needs tonight,” Thompson said. “We need to make sure that’s still our party. I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between Washington, D.C. and the people of the United States.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Former ABC News political director, and Time magazine’s new editor-at-large and senior political analyst, Mark Halperin, has posted a brief piece about Fred.

“… Thompson, 64, has vaulted in public-opinion polls to within striking distance of the leading Republican candidates. In the latest Time poll, he’s at 10%, matching Mitt Romney. …

The single most compelling feature of a Thompson candidacy would be his magnetism. A natural storyteller, he speaks with a relaxed cadence and unhurried confidence, peppering his remarks with language such as “fella” and “bad guys,” pausing expertly to make a point, relish an applause line, set up a joke.”

Read the entire article here.