Fred Thompson announces candidacy for president

[Dos Equis]

Fred Thompson announces candidacy for president
Thompson tells Jay Leno he's running for president

(CNN) -- After months of not-so-coy will-he-or-won't-he political flirtation, Fred Thompson has finally and officially announced that he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, left, explains to Jay Leno his reasons for getting into presidential race.

 "I am running for president of the United States," he said during a taping of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Wednesday evening, drawing applause and cheers from the audience.

It's the same venue that helped launch the electoral career of another celebrity-turned-politician, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Thompson also talked about his decision to join the race in a webcast that went online early Thursday.

"I'm going to give this campaign all that I have to give, and I hope that you'll join me," Thompson said in the video announcement posted on his campaign Web site. "Our country needs us to win next year, and I'm ready to lead that effort."

Thompson, 65, who has had a multifaceted career as a prosecutor, lobbyist, actor and U.S. senator from Tennessee, is angling for a conservative base that has yet to coalesce around a favorite.

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/06/thompson/index.html

[dizzleman06]

Thank you God!

[Colossus_500]

Finally!

[Tre]

In terms of pure "Presidentiality", Thompson is our guy.

He's not Reagan by a long stretch, but he's the closest-to-Reagan seeming of all the current candidates and that is what America wants right now, in my opinion.

I know I've been saying for 4 years that I would not vote Republican again until the nation cleaned house, but as of today, Fred Thompson is the man who will get my vote, and I say that knowing precious little about his politics.  What he brings to the table is LEADERSHIP and that's something we've desperately needed for a long, long time, even if he represents some things I may find fault with.

I respect that fact that, of all the candidates, he alone is the only non-waffler in the bunch.