"I'm Not Particularly Interested . . . "

In running for president, that is. Fred Thompson on the 2008 election, via Washington Monthly.

Are You With Fred?

Patrick Ruffini posts* at Townhall.com that the Fred Thompson campaign took in $220k in 18 hours at ImWithFred.com. It seems premature to call this a "powerful shot across the bow," as Ruffini does, but I'd call it noteworthy. Republican candidates have yet to harness the power of the Internet as effectively as Dems, so it'll be interesting to see if a popular face can change that trend.

*I originally wrote that this was unsourced. This is obviously not unsourced, as Ruffini's first words read "Sources close to the Thompson campaign . . . ." Apologies to Patrick and his sources.

Fred Thompson: Actor, Senator . . . Lobbyist?

David Sirota fills in the picture for us from these nuggets along the way (I'm a little late in getting to read them). Looks like Fred Thompson has distinguished himself over 18 years of service in the lobbying the field, including as recently as 2002.

It's not unusual for former senators to register as lobbyists. It's probably not all that unusual for former lobbyists to campaign for President (of course no one says he's campaigning . . . yet). I'm not even saying there's anything wrong with this. But if there's one thing we've learned from the corruption and cronyism of the last congress, it's that everything is worth investigating.