The article review(文章导读):By Jim Malone Washington30 May 2007
Former Republican Senator Fred Thompson is taking steps to join the 2008 presidential race. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has the latest from Washington.
Text(正文):By Jim Malone
Washington
30 May 2007
Former Republican Senator Fred Thompson is taking steps to join the 2008 presidential race. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has the latest from Washington.
Several news reports quoting anonymous sources close to Fred Thompson say he will set up a committee next week that will allow him to raise money and hire staff for a presidential bid next year.
A report on the Politico political news Web site says Thompson is planning to officially enter the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination over the U.S. Independence Day holiday on July 4.
"It has been behind the scenes, but the campaign has been very carefully planned out with mechanisms in place for raising money," said Mike Allen, with the Politico.com. "They are going to start paying staff members next week. There is going to be a testing-the-waters committee formed, and probably around the first week in July, Senator Thompson will make it official."
Thompson has been considering a presidential bid for months, beginning with an interview on Fox television back in March.
"I am going to wait and see how it pans out, see how they do, how it develops," he said. "A lot of people think it is late already. I do not really think it is, although the rules of the game have changed somewhat."
Thompson previously served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee and as a Washington lobbyist. He is also well known for his acting roles in films and on television in the popular NBC series Law and Order.
If he did get in the race, Thompson would join a crowded Republican field that already includes 10 contenders.
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