The Hunt for Red January

So, Fred Thompson is finally officially a candidate. Ya. Hoo.

On Foreign Policy "Listen son, Russians don't take a dump without having a plan."

Seriously - he is a small "C" "conservative" who is far more of a Libertarian than he is a Republican. His painfully long campaign launch video goes a long way to proving that.

But, of the republican candidates, the hound-dog is the closest thing to Reagan they have - consider

• Rudy (R - NY, which is pretty much the same as D - California) is a divorced baby killing social liberal;
• Mitt (R- Utah, D- Michigan, I - MA) is a born again Republican who governed like a blue-stater;
• McCain (R - Arizona by way of Hanoi) is the walking dead on all of his issues and probably isn't too far off;
• Mike Huckabee (likely running mate? HA - Tennessee/Arkansas would NEVER work) thinks that the Canadian Legislature is an igloo;
• Brownback (R - Scopes) is pretty much a cave dweller;
• And the only serious Republican non-entrant left, Newt (R -The Gingrinch who stole Liberty) is already out of money and seriously over-estimated his impact from 1994-2000.

Thompson will do THREE things that no other candidate can do -

1) He will get folksy - everyone expected Huckabee to fill this void, but he hasn't. Thompson CAN be very plainspoken which resonates exceptionally well with primary voters. Without exception, the folksiest candidate has won every presidential election (except possibly 1972). And yes, Bush I (R- 4 more years) was folksier than the last Mass Governor (D- I am a Greek-American) to run.

2) He will push the lesser than candidates out of the race. Their fundraising will dry up once they realize that Thompson will actually talk about their issues.

3) He just won't pander. He will (try to) convince and galvanize.

Thompson will also refuse to do two things: attack anyone other than democrats and stand down on the war on terror. This is why his success is hinged, for the most part, to the democratic nominee. If it isn't Clinton, a lot of his positive attributes are lost.