There’s been a lot of action in the Fred Dalton Thompson camp, much of it fundraising activities that were not particularly visible to most folks unless they had already contributed or signed up as a Friend of Fred. More recently, though Fred’s been making more public appearances. He gave a decent speech to the VFW that’s currently running on C-SPAN and at the much-improved Imwithfred.com website, made an appearance in Iowa, and has generally stepped up his on-the-ground presence.
All this finally seems to have pushed the NewsHour to decide that he’s worth covering, so they ran a segment on Fred last night. (Realaudio and MP3 here; transcript not up yet but check back during the day.)
The good news is that the NewsHour interviewee flatly stated that Fred’s “people” are saying that he will announce shortly after Labor Day. That’s been a persistent rumor, but this is the most authoritative statement of a date I’ve heard so far.
In addition, she mentioned that he’s accepted an invitation to join a Republican candidates’ debate on September 5th, which would indicate to me the announcement has got to be the 4th.
Also Alphecca notes FDT’s backhanded slap at Giuliani over the 2nd Am. here.
Anyway, our patience is about to be rewarded, folks!
The Summer season of Law and Order concludes (repeats of last year’s episodes, featuring Arthur Branch) on September 1st. I figured there’s gotta be a reason Fred’s waiting, and honoring his last employer is probably a good one. Once he’s running, they’d have to edit him out or not air the episode (or give equal play to his competitors).
Not true, BIG. There is no more “Fairness Doctrine”, and no requirement for equal time.
More to the point, it’s a far stretch for those running against to claim that a syndicated, no longer produced, television show is in fact a campaign action.
There may be some other reason to wait in election law, like starting in a particular part of a fundraising period. I don’t know.
‘Bout gorramed time. Saying I dislike being strung along would be putting it mildly.
Jetfx- fyi:
from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802174.html
If Fred Thompson, the onetime Tennessee senator better known to most Americans as District Attorney Arthur Branch on “Law & Order,” runs for president, some fans may be in for a letdown. Television stations are expected to suspend reruns of the show if he makes a real-life bid for the White House.
Federal campaign law requires broadcasters to give all candidates equal time on the airwaves. That rule applies to entertainment programs like “Law & Order,” meaning stations that run the show would be required to give other GOP candidates a like amount of prime-time exposure….
The equal-time provision, enforced by the Federal Communications Commission, has been a staple of political campaigning for decades. Its primary goal is to make sure that candidates cannot be frozen out of crucial television time for their campaign commercials.
Sorry for the long comment..