FRED THOMPSON: "EVEN A BLIND SQUIRREL SOMETIMES FINDS A NUT"

The new Reagan? Or a blind squirrel?

Fred Thompson doesn't count himself among Newt Gingrich's "pathetic bunch of pygmies," as the disgraced former Speaker accurately described the current Republican presidential field. That's because he hasn't officially declared yet. Then he'll be an official pathetic pygmy too? Well, maybe not-- according to Gingrich, who says he may not run if Thompson gets in-- or maybe yes, if you read the Fred Thompson profile in the latest issue of New York, The Actor.

Right from the git-go, writer Stephen Rodrick asks if the Thompson campaign's presentation of their packaged boy as "a true southern conservative and a plain-ol'-folks regular guy" is just another role he's playing. Rodrick has managed to find most of Thompson's weakest points: he maybe be lucky but he's lazy and he's a phony. "Since announcing this spring that he was considering a presidential run, Fred Thompson has improbably jumped to the front of the line for the GOP nomination. In two mid-July polls, Thompson led Rudolph Giuliani by a point or two, and while other recent surveys show the former New York mayor in the lead, Thompson’s strength in key southern states, including the aforementioned South Carolina, has not gone unnoticed. This despite the fact that the famously laid-back Thompson has barely campaigned, forgoing the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-make-a-thousand-trips-to-Iowa strategy in favor of the odd Leno appearance and a YouTube jab at Michael Moore, in which he essentially told Moore that if he didn’t love America, he should leave it, and go to Cuba."

So far, the Thompson bubble has floated skyward on several favorable updrafts. He’s the newest man in the race—and one with celebrity name recognition. He’s a Southerner and arguably the most conservative candidate in a field devoid of hard-liners. Despite his eight years in the Senate, people seem to buy the idea, for the time being anyway, that he’s a Washington outsider. And all of his opponents have significant liabilities. But then again, so does Thompson. Among them are his work ethic and authenticity.

Thompson's camp claims that Giuliani isn't conservative, that McCain isn't plausible and that Flip Flop Mitt isn't consistent. But the only plank on Thompson's platform is that he's more like Ronald Reagan than the rest of the pygmies. And many on the far right of the GOP (though not all) are falling for Thompson's dubious appeal. Like Reagan, he comes across as "affable." A man with no other discerbnable attributes, his affability has been all he's ever had to trade on, all that's gotten him ahead in the world. It's probably enough to get him the GOP nomination-- and, in all likelihood the biggest Republican general election smackdown since Barry Goldwater's.