The Nashville Thompsonian

Since the first rumbling of a Fred Thompson candidacy for president shook up the race, The Tennessean has scoured every story angle on the actor/senator

If I didn't know all I do about journalistic objectivity, I might suspect severe favoritism for a native son. A Republican native son too - the paper shoves any talk of Al Gore in 2008 deep into the main section, well behind the exploits of Music City no-names.

This shameless pandering has now scraped into the ground where the barrel's bottom once sat ... for a guy who's yet to officially enter the race. Thanks to the Nashville Thompsonian, I know more about a guy who might run than a dozen fringe candidates from both parties. I know how Nixon viewed Thompson the Watergate Investigator, who he represented as a lobbyist and how often his abortion views shifted to suit the audience in front of him.

A friend involved in Tennessee politics told me she's not counting on Thompson to sign up. Despite the myth that has risen about Thompson crisscrossing the Volunteer State in his red pick-up truck, Thompson never needed to campaign hard to swat away the gnats the Democratic Party ran (My view - if John McCain's ends his sputtering campaign, Thompson joins the race).

How will Thompson balance the good old boy routine with the no-nonsense Hollywood actor side, the main attraction of his candidacy for most Americans? The pick-up truck can't be flown into every campaign stop, nor would renting an old red truck at every whistle stop feel especially authentic.

But unlike The Thompsonian, I'll wait until Thompson actually takes the truck out of storage before weighing his odds.