Fred's In...If He Can Keep a Campaign Staff

Fred Thompson finally made it official, announcing on the Tonight Show that he's running for president. In doing so, he skipped the Republican debate on Fox News (I missed the debate, but those who saw it report that appearing on Leno might have been a better choice; at least he has a band.)

Fred's announcement was not without some backstage intrigue; he has lost two more high-level campaign staffers before his campaign actually got off the ground. Those close to the campaign -- and sympathetic to it -- say this does not bode well for it since this is about the fourth time that there have been shake-ups in the Thompson camp. As Josh Marshall says, "They say you can judge how a candidate might run the country by how well he's able to run his presidential campaign. What if he can't even manage an exploratory committee?"

I stand by my prediction that once the novelty wears off and the GOP electorate gets beyond the facial recognition from his acting resume, they'll find out that Mr. Thompson's appeal is largely indistinguishable from anyone else in field; he's just another white guy with a folksy accent and bunch of right-wing talking points to feed the base and cover up an unspectacular record in the Senate.

On the up side, once the bloom is off the Thompson campaign, that will cue Newt Gingrich. Then the fun will begin.