With Fred in fray, how will it play?

To the delight of ‘Fred-Heads’ everywhere, Fred Thompson made it official last week.?? He finally went from ‘testing the waters and finding them warm’ to plunging into the 2008 race for president.

After coyly considering running for the White House since at least last March, when a ‘Draft Fred committee’ and Web site was launched, Mr. Thompson confirmed ‘I’m in!’ to Jay Leno on the ‘Tonight Show’ last Wednesday night, and on his own national television ad.

While the other eight Republican presidential hopefuls sweated through another farcical debate in New Hampshire, Fred fielded Leno’s questions from the relative comfort of a California TV studio couch.??In a classic case of what my good friend and colleague, Jeanette Henderson calls ‘politainment,’ Mr. Thompson was center stage and clearly in the national media spotlight.??

He’s not the first presidential candidate to milk the entertainment media market for maximum political effect.??His fellow Republican presidential candidate, John McCain announced his candidacy on David Letterman’s TV show.??His potential Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton, announced hers on the Internet.??

Now that Fred is in the fray, the question is: how will it play’Will he be the tall Tennessean riding to the rescue of reeling Republicans who lately seem to have morphed into the gang that can’t shoot straight’Will voters, Republican, Democrat and Independent, flock to Fred Thompson as their man to lead the nation in 2008?

The short answer to these long questions is:?? who knows? After all, Fred is barely in the fray.??The first primaries and caucuses are four months away, and voters will have ample opportunities to take his measure and make up their minds about his worth as a candidate and as his party’s nominee.??Meanwhile, his fellow Republican candidates will cut him no slack, nor will the media.

To Mr. Thompson’s credit, he has now ‘hit the ground running.’ He followed his whirlwind three-day tour of Iowa with stops in key New Hampshire towns yesterday and today.?? Tomorrow, he visits South Carolina.??After shunning the Republican ‘debates’ in New Hampshire, he has some real fence mending to do there.??Whether he succeeds in that key primary state remains to be seen.

More than a few Tennesseans were disappointed Mr. Thompson didn’t announce his candidacy in his hometown of Lawrenceburg.??After all, that seemed like the right thing to do. It’s what Al Gore did in his hometown of Carthage, before he lost his home state to George Bush.

Even if Fred Thompson wins his party’s nomination, which, at this point, is way too early to tell, he may still have to face a formidable foe in the 2008 presidential general elections.??Right now, that foe looks a lot like Hillary Clinton. ??

So, as Fred Thompson knows now, and will get to know better, running for president is a marathon, not a 100-yard dash.??The dustbin of presidential campaign history is filled with those who soared in the public opinion polls, but were sent packing by the voters. ??

Thomas B. Vaughn in an instructor at Motlow College and co-host of the radio show ‘Viewpoints,’ which airs on WCPI 91.3 FM.