UPDATE: From the Lacy link above, an op-ed in which he gave thoughts on how Fred's campaign would shape up:

Working with Fred in 1994 and his 1996 reelection campaign and working in Republican presidential campaigns from 1980-1996, I can make some pretty definitive statements about what Fred will bring to the presidential campaign:

? Fred ran in 1994 to make a difference, a cliché but also a truth. He gave up a lucrative and comfortable life in law and character roles in Hollywood to join the Washington rat race. It was a big sacrifice. He’s not running because he needs to be president; it’s a cause to him. That’s powerful motivation.

? He’s an intellectual conservative who will please the party faithful but whose folksy style and maverick impulses (like supporting the McCain-Feingold so-called campaign finance reform) soften his image, an invaluable general election quality.

? His experience during the Watergate hearings and the Tennessee pardons and parole scandal later in the ’70s established him as a committed reformer.

? He’ll run an unconventional campaign: Experts and journalists who jump to negative conclusions about his campaign’s tactics while ignoring his campaign’s substance do so at their peril. Just ask Tennessee U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, his ’94 opponent.

? While he has only won two elections, he came back from being written off in his first race. He will not blow people away every day but will wear well over time. He learned in the courtroom and in movies that his performance at critical junctures is far more important that a heavy schedule. Some say this shows Fred lacks energy. I used to hear the same thing about Ronald Reagan.

Fred isn’t Superman. His style has some similarities to President Reagan, but he hasn’t been around as long and proven himself as much. He needs a solid team with national campaign experience to craft strategy, do the planning and execute the myriad tasks such a large undertaking entails. He does have a Senate voting record, which will be scrutinized, and like all first time presidential candidates, he faces a challenging vetting process. He has no national campaign experience and hasn’t been through that large-scale rough and tumble.

But he has been tested: In the darkest hours of his political career, when the wheels were about to come off his first campaign, he figured out how to scoop them up, put them on a red truck and drive off into the sunset.

It was classic Hollywood — a happy ending. I hear they are planning a sequel.

08/08 12:00 PM