Posted on 09/04/2007 12:02:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
BURBANK - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is scheduled to be a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" tomorrow, a day before officially declaring his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
Thompson's appearance -- he last appeared on the show June 12 -- will come on the same day as the eight announced Republican candidates debate in New Hampshire.
The Thompson campaign announced last week that he would declare his candidacy Thursday, with a Webcast on his campaign's Web site, www.imwithfred.com, then conduct a five-day campaign tour through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, all key early states in the nominating process.
"I believe that there are millions of Americans who know that our security and prosperity are at risk if we don't address the challenges of our time -- the global threat of terrorism, taxes and spending that will bankrupt future generations, and a government that can't seem to get the most basic responsibilities right for its citizens," Thompson said in a statement that accompanied the announcement of his plans.
"The response that we've received makes me confident that we have an opportunity to change politics in Washington and across the country, and take on these challenges the way every generation of Americans has faced the challenges of their time -- with unity, hard work and a belief that we will come out on the winning side."
Best known for his portrayal of New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's "Law & Order" for the past five seasons, Thompson is second behind former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in most national polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, although he was in a statistical tie for the lead in a Rasmussen Reports survey released Aug. 27.
Thompson came in second to Giuliani in a California Republican straw poll held on Labor Day at the California State Fair, according to the Sacramento County Republican Party.
About 1,600 people who visited the Republican Party booth voted on the question, "If the election were held today, which Republican candidate currently seeking the presidency would you vote for in the California presidential primary election?"
Giuliani won with 31 percent, or 500 votes, while Thompson came in second with 24 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was third with 19 percent, while other candidates all registered less than 10 percent.
Thompson has said he supports President Bush's Iraq War troop surge, opposes gun control and has called the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision giving women the right to an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy "bad law and bad medical science."
Thompson is among three presidential candidates scheduled to visit the Southland this week. Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, are set to appear at Newport Beach fundraisers Friday.
Thompson, 65, first came into the public eye in 1973, when, as co-chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, a question he asked of former Nixon administration aide Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of the White House taping system.
A longtime Washington lobbyist, Thompson was elected to the Senate in 1994, filling the final two years of the term of then-Vice President Al Gore, before being re-elected to a full term in 1996.
He abandoned plans to run for re-election in 2002 following the death of his adult daughter from an accidental drug overdose.
The New York Times reported in July that Thompson spent nearly 20 hours working as a lobbyist on behalf of a group seeking to ease federal rules on abortion counseling in 1991 and 1992, apparently contradicting his opposition to abortion.
"He stands by his record and his ratings by pro-life groups," Linda Rozett, then the Thompson campaign's director of communications, told City News Service in a July interview. Rozett has since left the campaign.
BUMP
I am going to run, and I will even be competitive in Collie-phone-ia. Couldn’t resist...
Headline says tonight. Article says tomorrow. Which is it?
Misleading headline.
I believe he’s on tomorrow; not tonight.
The show airs the same day as taping occurs, which is usually 8:30PM ET (the actual taping) and 11:35PM ET (air time).
Don’t be alarmed by the wrong headline. The LA Times is just getting their stories for tomorrow written in advance. That way they won’t have to actually gather facts or investigate anything. They can just make everything up as they would like it to be. Today, tomorrow, it makes no difference to today’s “journalists.”
I would like to see that since he would be a candidate that everyone could get behind simply because he is a real conservative.
They all have a past; but Duncan Hunter is proving everyday he is able and willing to do the job. I like him because he doesn’t shy away from the questions. He will have a real conversation with you.
NBC says Republicans should tune in tonight...
And I don’t really care for the top tier candidates that are there. It’s like this is all we have to vote for while leaving the truly conservative candidates out. So here we are having to vote for front people on either side instead of taking this golden opportunity that was put in our laps and just throwing it out the window.
Presidential candidate announcing on Leno:
“I just flew in from Chicago and boy are my arms tired!”
Not exactly Gettysburg Address material.
Had the moderator change the headline...take a look!
Leno’s audience is usually a bunch of lib weenies.
So, I hope Thompson does come out and do the centrist two-step.
I want to hear him articulate substanitive conservative principles, even if he’s booed.
Otherwise I’ll stick with Hunter
does = DOES NOT
The essence of liberal reasoning.
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