March
8 Is Fred Thompson Ready to Run?

The "Law & Order" star and former Tennessee senator is keeping rather coy on the issue, but The Hill reports on mounting rumors that he is seriously considering throwing his hat in the ring for 2008.

His mentor, former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, is contacting power brokers to build support for a campaign, and Thompson, when asked about it recently, said, "I'm keeping my powder dry."

If he runs, one issue that is bound to come up is where it leaves equal time provisions. Obviously, he would not be able to continue his role as Arthur Branch on "Law & Order," but it also raises the questions of what happens with the airing of reruns on NBC. TNT runs repeats of the series, but the equal time provision applies to broadcasters. With exceptions for such things as news programming and interview shows, it requires equal airtime for other candidates.

Thompson's political career got a big boost in 1973 when Baker named him chief Republican counsel to the Senate Watergate committee, and Thompson is said to be responsible for Baker asked the no famous question, "What did the President know, and when did he know it?" His acting career was launched in 1985 when producers cast him in the movie "Marie," in which he played himself in the real life story of his fight against corruption on the Tennessee Parole Board.

That led to roles in "No Way Out," "The Hunt for Red October," and "In the Line of Fire." Thompson left acting to run for the U.S. Senate in 1994, and served until 2003. In the last few months of his term, Dick Wolf cast him as D.A. Arthur Branch, and he even started the role while still serving in Congress.

Even as he has acted on "Law & Order," he has stayed active politically, raising money for Scooter Libby's legal defense and appearing in ads last year for such candidates as Bob Corker, who won a Tennessee Senate seat against Harold Ford.

His candidacy is said to be motivated by some GOP dissatisfaction with the current field of candidates.

“I think Fred Thompson is by far the one American who could bring this country together,” Tennessee GOP Chairman Bob Davis told the Chattanooga Times Free Press last week. “There are some good folks running right now, but naturally if a conservative Tennessean like Fred Thompson chose to run, I believe there would be a flood of support from across the country.”

This item was corrected from a previous version.