Entries for May 2007

The fast-moving Fred Thompson for president campaign will take its first step toward joining the 2008 GOP race next week, when the actor and former senator will announce that he's testing the waters for a White House bid.

"That's the technical, legal thing we have to do to begin raising money and hiring staff," says an insider. But stories that the Law & Order star plans to make his campaign official on Independence Day are being dismissed as silly.

"We're probably going to announce around the first week of July but not on the Fourth. That's not true," says a Thompson ally. "Why would we do it then? Families are at the beach, on vacation, at barbecues, and not paying attention to politics. We don't interrupt family time."

Thompson has been on the fast track to the White House in recent weeks, giving speeches, blogging, and meeting with conservative reporters as he has sized up what it takes to win and form his platform. "If he gets in the race it will be to win the whole thing, I can tell you that," says another associate. He gave a widely praised speech in Connecticut last week and plans a similar address to Virginia Republicans this week.

And even though he is suffering from the flu, he also met with conservative reporters and columnists this week, spelling out his plans to stay firm on the war, push for tax cuts, and largely work toward renewing the Reagan Revolution.

SMU

First lady Laura Bush may have shown her hand this past weekend for where she prefers that her hubby plant his presidential library and museum when he leaves office. Sure, Laura was "officially" touring a fashion exhibit at her alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas. But many at the school and inside the White House took it as a big sign that the prez has picked her school to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It's long been the front-runner, and while the first lady didn't talk about the library search, just being there was enough of a sign for those who read presidential library tea leaves. Laura counts, and not just because she's married to the president or is a former school librarian. She also has a major role on the search committee and, we hear, has been meeting with architects bidding on the project.

Many think that the White House will reveal President Bush's choice this summer.

Maybe former President Jimmy Carter wasn't thinking broadly enough when he called President Bush the worst ever. Historians are starting to lump the 43rd president's record in with his dad's, the 41st president, as they begin sizing up just what went wrong with W's administration and his place in history. "His historical legacy," says James Madison University's Glenn Hastedt, "is right at the tipping point." He should know. Hastedt coedits the weighty White House Studies, which is devoting two upcoming issues to comparing father and son.

One scholarly paper provided to Whispers offers an interesting theory. Gary Wekkin of the University of Central Arkansas says the two would have succeeded if they had switched places: 43 to fight the first Iraq war and domestic issues his dad failed at and 41 to handle the current war and international crises that followed. "Strictly speaking, neither Bush 41 nor Bush 43 has been a poor president," says Wekkin. "Rather, each seems to have been the right person for the presidency at the wrong time."It's not curtains for 43, though. Wekkin says Bush may yet see his hope of having historians 50 years off judge him better. "It worked for Harry Truman," says Wekkin. Hastedt, meanwhile, says it all hinges on the war. "If Iraq fails," he says, "it will be very difficult to call it a success."

"F--- you. I know more about this than anyone else in the room."

"I promised the president today that I wouldn't say anything bad about this piece of s--- bill."

"Senate Democrats will never give in, never, never, never, never."

"I can't tell you the selfish pleasure I get out of working with President Clinton."

Sources: washingtonpost.com, National Journal, AFP, Washington Post

It's been over three years since a House staffer scandalized Capitol Hill by blogging about her sexual exploits with staffers, but there are still no universal rules barring aides from blogging about their jobs on their work or home computers. "It's crazy, and we have to do something about it," says a top gop aide who is privately quizzing others on their office policies in a bid to come up with one rule. The aide and others say that several Hill offices have staffers who blab about their work on sites like MySpace and Facebook. "These kids have no sense of privacy," says the top aide to a Senate Democrat. Among the rules being considered are blocking those sites on office computers. Another: Have aides sign a confidentiality agreement barring them from blogging about work even on home computers.

Pollster John Zogby is helping us again, this time on determining if possible late entrants into the presidential race like Republican Newt Gingrich or Democrat Al Gore can really wait until September or later to jump in. His view: You betcha. "Gingrich can wait until the fall," Zogby says, "particularly if the major candidates prove tiresome or flag in some way." Or, he adds, if "Republicans decide the election is hopeless and they might as well go down in a blaze of glory." Gore "can and must wait because right now 75 percent to 80 percent of the Democratic early primary and caucus voters are satisfied with the field," he says. Gore's signal: when the front-runners slump "or screw up."

Friends tell us that Fred Thompson, the TV star and former Tennessee senator, isn't taking the normal route as he lays the groundwork for a GOP presidential bid. Instead of kissing up to the Washington press and party Brahmins, his early strategy has been focused on conservatives in the media and on the Internet. And so far, his team says, it's working. One example: Last week he gave a trademark folksy conservative speech, and the mainstream media shrugged it off while conservative bloggers went nutso for it. "Our strategy is to not pay attention to the mainstream," says an adviser. "Heck, the mainstream isn't going to vote for a Republican, even Thompson," he added. Thompson also blogged on topical Pajamas Media.com, and his sarcastic video suggesting that lefty filmmaker Michael Moore consider a "mental institution" has been seen by over 1 million.

Turns out that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is just like a lot of us. She's a sucker for product placement. An American Idol fan, she fell for pop megastar Gwen Stefani when the platinum blond took over the coaching job for an Idol show. We're told Rice ran out and got one of Gwen's cds, though we don't know if it was the new Sweet Escape she promoted on Idol.

The archivist who has brought us two of the hippest presidential libraries and museums-those of former Presidents Bush and Clinton-is retiring to direct the Museum of Mobile in Alabama. "You know when it's your time to move on," David Alsobrook tells us. For nearly 30 years, the National Archives and Records Administration exec has put his stamp on presidential legacies. First with former President Carter's library, as an archivist. That made sense since he worked with Jimmy's team, like ex-speechwriter Chris Matthews. He even watched the signing of Carter's legacy achievement, the Camp David peace accords. He eventually ran the Bush and Clinton facilities. Alsobrook could probably build the current president's library and museum in his sleep, but he says his roots are calling him home. Alsobrook does have some advice for future presidents: Get eye-popping stuff, like the vintage Air Force One at Ronald Reagan's facility. "That's got to be the coolest artifact in the system."

GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is taking his joke about Democrat John Edwards's $400 haircut all the way to the bank. He tells Whispers that his bid to raise 400 new contributions-one for every dollar Edwards spent-in just 96 hours was a hit, with some donations equal to the price of the haircut. In fact, he wishes other candidates would get expensive trims so he could do it again. "If I had known we'd have so many responses," he says, "I would have hoped that more candidates paid $400 for a haircut!"