Dear Yahweh no…:

It looks as if Fred Thompson is getting ready to run for president. Friends of the former Tennessee senator turned actor (anonymous to protect their relationship) say he’s increasingly tempted to enter the 2008 Republican primaries, fueled in part by new polls that show he’s got a serious shot at the White House. A Gallup poll released last week found Thompson ranked No. 3 behind front runners Rudy Giuliani and John McCain with 12 percent support among Republicans—all before he’s even formally launched a campaign.

Dumb.  Just dumb…

I hate it when people cite polls about non-candidates as if it’s indication they’d win if they did run.  See, the speculators in the media don’t realize that people who aren’t active politicians virtually always have elevated positives.  It’s the reason why Gore is getting whispered about in some circles, when someone isn’t going through the standard song and dance to get elected they come across as somewhat human, people like that.
Interesting thing is, his potential candidacy could provide a case study in how dumb the attempts at election reform have been…

One longtime Thompson friend, who declined to be named while discussing the former senator’s personal life, tells NEWSWEEK that Thompson is looking into his contract obligations to “Law & Order” and talking with producers about how his run could affect the franchise. Election law requires equal air time for candidates. If enforced, the law could mean that more than 100 episodes over the past five seasons of “Law & Order” and its various spinoffs might have to be removed from the airwaves during Thompson’s run—or other candidates could demand equal air time. (emphasis mine)

If he runs, and they demand this, they’re smoking crack, period.  It’s a fictional TV show, one that was around long before he joined the cast, treating it as if it were a soapbox for his campaign would be nuts.  It’d be like if Carlos Mencia were running for congress and people complained about his show (for reasons other than it not being funny).

We have all these rules, seemingly a new one every minute, but do we get better candidates and more reasonable campaigns?  Nope.