Run Fred Run

Robert Novak tells us what may be delaying Fred Thompson's entry into the presidential race:

Although revelation of his cancer history has cleared the decks for Fred Thompson to run for the Republican presidential nomination, his commitments as a television and radio performer may delay his announcement until June.

As an actor on NBC's "Law and Order," Thompson can scarcely abandon the show during the May ratings sweeps and has taped programs that will be aired then. He also has commitments to ABC as a stand-in for radio commentator Paul Harvey.
There was no reason for Thompson to make the cancer revelation if he did not plan to run for president, and this indicates he intends to join the race. However, prominent Republicans are delaying an endorsement until he actually announces his candidacy.

This could go either way. On the one hand Thompson has all the name recognition that he needs to begin his race for the White House and the more time that goes by the more it seems that Julie Annie's candidacy will manage to sink itself. John McCain is damaged beyond repair with conservatives and Mitt Romney is not going to suddenly seem attractive just because a few months have passed.

On the other hand money is the mother's milk of politics and the other Republican candidates are raising it as fast as they can. By the time Thompson's career commitments allow him to officially announce his candidacy he may be too far behind to catch up.

Then on the gripping hand the dissatisfaction with the three RINOs isn't going to get any better and when June rolls around the conservative public could very well be ready to leap to the banner of anyone who doesn't seem to be Hillary lite. As long as Fred isn't officially in the race the media anal examination is delayed and the front runners will be taking the arrows and tearing each other apart. Fred can then step in late and cruise into the new "Super Feburary" primaries and grab the nomination.

All in all it would be a shame if the may ratings sweeps wound up putting Hillary Clinton in the White House.