Actor/politician takes steps toward White House bid

WASHINGTON – Fred Thompson will offer himself as a down-home antidote to Washington politics in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, running a campaign out of Nashville while promising leadership on a conservative agenda that will appeal to his party’s base, advisers said Wednesday.

Thompson’s entry will immediately affect the battle for the GOP nomination, as it could add a fourth candidate to the field’s top tier, which includes former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

All three have struggled to win the confidence of conservative Republicans. Thompson will attempt to make the case that he is the true heir to the mantle of Ronald Reagan and, if successful, would become a formidable candidate for the nomination. But Republican strategists cautioned that Thompson will need a more refined message and an error-free startup to live up to the publicity surrounding his all-but-certain candidacy.

“That’s what the campaign will be all about for him: persuading a significant portion of the party that he truly is the right leader for a set of issues and an outlook on the world,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster.

By Friday, aides said, the ex-senator from Tennessee and actor will incorporate a committee called “Friends of Fred Thompson” and will begin actively raising money for a White House bid. He launched the fundraising effort this week in a conference call with more than 100 supporters, whom he has dubbed his “First Day Founders.”

Within the next few weeks, advisers say, a real campaign will take shape, even without a final decision or formal announcement. A Web site will be posted, campaign headquarters will be selected and a staff will be hired. The signature red pickup from Thompson’s Senate campaigns will be dusted off.

A senior adviser, who asked to remain anonymous because Thompson has not formally announced his intentions, said he is confident about the future.

Thompson will give a speech in Virginia this weekend and is scheduled to appear next month on “The Tonight Show.” An announcement could come as soon as the first week of July. But those plans are in flux and could change, two sources said Wednesday. One source said a formal announcement is likely to come “around that time.”

As a lawmaker, Thompson exuded a folksy charm that supporters say could help him capture the attention of many Republican primary voters. His decades of movie and television appearances give him an immediate national presence that rivals the others in the campaign; he currently plays District Attorney Arthur Branch on “Law and Order.”

A senator from 1994 to 2003 and a guest host on Paul Harvey’s show on ABC Radio, Thompson has already begun to reach out to party conservatives. He has been outspoken in his support of the war in Iraq and blasted the immigration deal reached in the Senate. He recently used a spat with liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to draw attention on conservative blogs, issued a Web-video featuring himself chomping a cigar and chiding Moore for going to Cuba to make a documentary.