COMMENTARY: I'm With Fred

If you ask the moderate-conservative Republican blogger who he would vote for today for the 2008 presidency, the answer is politician-turned-actor Fred Thompson: "The reasons are twofold and simple. #1. America needs a unifying leader who speaks to the people with wisdom and clarity. Fred Thompson does that. #2. America needs a leader who is clear on the issues of the day. Fred Thompson's blog does that. For the past three weeks, he has put forth concise explanations of his positions on a wide variety of issues. He is prompted by current affairs and controversies, which he handles with aplomb, but also with matters of long standing concern without prompting. I like what I read on the Fred Thompson blog. Day after day, issue after issue. He nails it. In my estimation, Thompson has a much better chance than McCain or Romney to become and stay number two among the front runners. I like that Thompson is a Senator with a long track record and experience in Washington. He strikes me as someone who can and will get to the bottom of things, but whose experience teaches him how to and what to expect before he gets there. He has deftly handled misrepresentations of his record and character thus far. I say this in direct contrast with Giuliani whose experience in NYC, although commendable and significant, is still outside of Washington. We've already had GW Bush show how to piss off everybody outside of the White House. I'm also impressed with Duncan Hunter and I hope that he leaves this race with the higher profile he needs to rise in California politics. I will start paying a bit more attention to Ron Paul who strikes me as the kind of truth teller who would be a fine head of any of the major Federal Agencies. But I don't think we need a big reformer in the White House right now. We need somebody who can nudge the country back together and get rid of this Red vs Blue nonsense."

My response: I love Mr. Thompson's character on "Law & Order", but I'm not committed to any of the candidates. I remain unsure about which party's primary I will even vote in next year (I typically alternate between the Republicans and the Democrats, which probably explains why I'm already getting campaign mail from both sides). It depends on the overall ballot makeup, and who is still in the running by the time my home state of Illinois has its primary. It is not beyond the realm of impossibility for Romney, McCain, Giuliani, and Thompson on the Republican side or Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Richardson on the Democratic side to get my vote. This is where I feel cross-pressures between my fiscal conservatism and social and foreign policy moderatism. The other candidates though, no chance.