We sat down with former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, during a picturesque morning on the patio of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. Just hours away from the hottest ticket in town, Thompson was planning to use the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County to "test the waters" and further advance his long, ambiguous march towards entering the Republican presidential primary. Press coverage is usually shunned at the club's private dinner, but the fifty credentialed reporters in attendance suggested club members were hopeful the tall, soft spoken actor-politician-attorney would use the occasion to declare his candidacy and fill the conservative void left among the current crop of Republican front runners.

The political buzz was palpable. Political insiders knew it was highly unlikely Thompson would announce his candidacy far from his home state of Tennessee and even further from mainstream middle America, but that didn't stop the press or club members from doing a little wishful thinking.

For those expecting a declaration of candidacy, the speech would be a disappointment. Thompson stopped short of taking the first big step in running for president, but indicated he was beginning a deliberate process to determine if, in his words, "the man meets the times".

Such contemplation was welcomed by those in the audience who are accustomed to being told what they want to hear by politicians looking to fill their campaign coffers. For those members, Thompson is refreshingly candid. He offers a clear understanding of the appropriate role of government and a resolute vision for America's role during these challenging times.

SMALL TOWN AMERICA
Thompson is a 64-year-old son of Fletcher and Ruth Thompson. Born in Sheffield, Alabama on August 19, 1942, the family moved to the small Tennessee town of Lawrenceburg while Thompson was still young. By his own account, he enjoyed the ideal childhood; a 1950's Norman Rockwell-esque upbringing in small-town America.

"Any success that I have had is in large part attributable to the security and the example I had growing up in that little town" explains Thompson.

He describes his father as a strong, but distant figure who "set a great example of what a man should be". Not having earned his GED until later in life, Fletcher did not set high professional or academic goals for the young Thompson. He did however leave a powerful impression, one that Thompson appreciates more with age.

Thompson reminisces about a father who arrived home each night by 6:00 pm, never took a sip of alcohol, and never raised his voice to Thompson's mother. As a Deacon in the Church of Christ, Thompson's father made sure the family attended church twice each Sunday and once on Wednesday. "There was seldom a time when church was open that we weren't there" recalls Thompson. When asked what word best describes that period of his life, the answer is quick, "stability".

Fred Thompson spent his teens working a series of unrelated jobs. As a lifeguard, a farmhand, a construction worker, a factory worker, and a postal clerk, Thompson recalls jobs that taught him valuable lessons, but were not the right fit.

By eighteen, Thompson knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He had been working at the Post Office by day and the graveyard shift at a bicycle factory by night. He recalls a time when he was ankle deep in water on the factory floor and surrounded by loud machinery. He thought, "Maybe I was cut out to be a scholar after all."

He was further inspired after reading the autobiography of Clarence Darrow, the famed American lawyer who defended John T. Scopes in the "Monkey" Trial of 1925. "The idea of taking on the fight of an individual that was standing against all of the powers that be...that appealed to me a lot. The sense of justice. The sense of right and wrong. Standing against injustice. And, from that time on, that's the only thing that ever occurred to me to do. Now other things came along that I didn't plan for, but that is the only thing that I ever planned for," Thompson explains.

Thompson married Sarah Lindsey while still in high school. Despite the added responsibility of marriage and family, he graduated high school in 1960. By 1964, Thompson graduated from Memphis State University with an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science. With a wife and three young children at home, Thompson worked his way through law school and graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1967.

SERENDIPITY
Fred Thompson's graduation from law school and admittance to the State Bar of Tennessee marks the beginning of a career best characterized as serendipitous. "It is at least serendipity. I think it is a combination of luck, and happenstance, and fate." Thompson continues, "The only thing that you can be sure of in life is that things happen that are unexpected that you cannot possibly plan... and the key is to be ready for it."

Over the next forty years, Thompson would become an assistant U.S. attorney, a campaign manager for U.S. Senator Howard Baker, a key player in the Watergate investigation, a lobbyist, an actor, a U.S. Senator representing Tennessee, and a political commentator on television, radio, and the internet.

"When I left my little town to become assistant United States attorney, I didn't foresee that three years later that Howard Baker was going to take note of me and say, 'come and join my campaign for re-election.'

When I left for Howard Baker, I didn't know that the day I left was the day of the Watergate break-in and...that Baker would ask me to come up and be the Republican counsel.

When I took that job, I didn't know there was a young woman back in Tennessee watching those hearings saying, 'if I ever needed a lawyer, I'll call him.' She did. She was the chairman of the parole board. I took her case. We exposed corruption. They made a movie out of it. I wound up playing myself in the movie.

And I could go on and on...through the Senate, and television, and radio, to being here today. It's just one thing leading to another. Doors are there...some are locked, some are closed, but some are open. And you have to make a choice sometimes whether or not you're going to walk through them without knowing what's on the other side. That's the excitement and adventure of life and especially life as a young man growing up in America."

While each step in his career has earned Thompson new level of respect and celebrity, it is for his acting that he is best known. It's a fact reinforced by polls that indicate most Americans recognize his face, but few Americans know his name or his political accomplishments.

With roles in dozens of movies and on television, including Cape Fear, The Hunt for Red October, and the long-running NBC television series Law & Order, Thompson often portrays figures of authority. He has played military officers, the Director of the CIA, a District Attorney, and even the President of the United States. But pundits are quick to remind us, playing a president is not the same as being the president.

Not unlike Thompson's onscreen personas, his self-confidence conveys a solid command of the issues and an understanding of the consequences of poor decisions. One gets the feeling they should pay close attention when he is speaking. Thompson's manner is relaxed and disarmingly earnest. His cadence is as deliberate as it is compelling. In short, Thompson exudes leadership and experience.

Bob Davis Jr., a long-time friend and current Tennessee Republican Party Chairman, has the highest respect for Thompson. "He has repeatedly answered the call. From Watergate in the 70s to his Senate run in the 90s to now, Thompson has always been willing to step up on behalf of the country." Davis, an enthusiastic supporter of a Thompson candidacy, believes Thompson is the one guy who can unite the country in these difficult times.

From his days as a prosecutor, as a Senator, as a factory worker, and an actor, Thompson appreciates all of his experiences and insists, "You cannot have too much experience if you are thinking about the presidency." Thompson continues, "I think you need to be able to deal with the powerful. You need to be able to walk with the humble. You need to understand both. You need to have a firm recognition of what our system is all about, and the rule of law...and the source of our liberties."

POLITICS
As our conversation turns to politics and the 2008 presidential election, Thompson is eager to share his thoughts. But unlike many politicians who are armed with talking points and rhetoric, Thompson is the real Straight Talk Express; candid and methodical as he discusses how America might solve some of its most challenging problems. He doesn't claim to have all the answers. He does, however, have confidence that with the right leadership, the American people can and will rally together to find solutions.

TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Thompson believes many Americans have become too complacent on national security issues and the dangers of terrorism. "I think nations and human beings are sometimes the same. And I think the tendency for great powers is that [once they achieve] great power and prosperity, [they] become relaxed and not especially appreciative of what they have. I think the tendency of democracies once they have gone through great struggles like we did in the Cold War, is to let down their guard somewhat and to enjoy the benefits of peace."

Specifically, Thompson feels America's leaders fail to fully appreciate the threat posed by the potential marriage of Islamic fundamentalist zealots and nuclear technology. "We have nuclear materials scattered throughout the world. They're trying to get it. We have porous borders and porous ports. That goes to the fundamental responsibility of government [to protect] the American people from catastrophe. And we are dealing with potentially catastrophic circumstances if we do not deal with some things better."

Thompson is confident the American people have the courage to do what is necessary to protect America from a major catastrophe. "We've face challenges before of different kinds. We lived through and worked our way through the Great Depression to become the most successful and economically prosperous country in the world. We've fought two world wars and came out the strongest country in the world.

The American people do not want to suffer another 9/11. They understand we've done some things differently. With a combination of preparation and luck, we haven't been attacked again. And I think with strong leadership that says, 'Hey, these threats are out there. Here's what we need to do to protect ourselves. We have done it before. It may call on some sacrifice from you. Here is why we need to do it. We need to hang together and do this on a bipartisan basis the same way we fought through an extended Cold War and won. Just like the extended time we're going to have to go through now [to win the war on terror]. There is nothing that can't be done. Nothing that is not within our control and power to handle in this country.'"

REPUBLICAN CREDIBILITY
On the issues of small government, lower taxes, less bureaucracy, fiscal responsibility, and figuring out how Republicans can restore their credibility, Thompson is blunt, "Start doing right and quit doing wrong."

He acknowledges that restoring the credibility squandered by a Republican congress over the past twelve years will be an uphill battle and he is profoundly disappointed by the profligate spending and corruption.

"I think the spending and the pork barreling and the various people that got caught in these various shady activities...I think that soured people. That's something that Republicans don't easily forgive of their own and they're not going to continue to support that sort of thing just because they have an 'R' by their name."

IMMIGRATION REFORM
Fred Thompson is not convinced that a comprehensive immigration reform package is the solution to America's immigration problem. An outspoken opponent of the recently failed McCain-Kennedy-Bush Senate proposal, Thompson believes Americans are less concerned with the 12 million illegal aliens who are already in the United States as they are about the next 12 million and the 12 million after that.
 
 "It's first a matter of regaining the credibility with the American people. The government went to them back in 1986 with this very proposition. Now, 12 million illegal aliens later, they're coming back [to the American people again] with the same basic proposition.

It's a credibility issue. Unless we can convince the American people that we really are doing something, demonstrably doing something, to improve the security situation, I don't think the rest of it is in the offing."

HEALTHCARE REFORM
"I think we're coming to a fundamental dividing point. We're either going to go in the direction of a government single payer solution or we're going to go in the direction of insurance disengaging from employment and having the individual based system whereby people have more of a stake in cost of their own medical care.

If you couple that with the competitive market place, that we don't really have now because of legal barriers that stand in our way, and I think you have the beginnings of a solution. (This is very unclear. Does the writer want to say "then" instead of "and" in the second line?)

But we [have to be] awfully careful about how we deal with the best healthcare system in the world. We still provide the best healthcare, provide the most life-saving drugs of anywhere else in the world and we have got to make sure we don't do anything to destroy that the way other countries have done."

SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM
Thompson believes young people (and Americans in general) should have a very dim view of what is happening right now with Social Security reform. While President Bush tried to take the first step by making it a centerpiece of his agenda, congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have done nothing. Instead, says Thompson, "professional politicians prefer to demagogue it and roll the problem further down the road when it [will be] somebody else's problem to solve."

Thompson expresses frustration that between Social Security and Medicare, very little leadership has been demonstrated by those in positions to affect reform and prevent two of America's largest entitlement programs from bankrupting future generations.

DOES THE MAN MEET THE TIMES?
Asked what it would take to convince him to throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential election, Thompson is firm. He will not be "convinced" by somebody and it is not a decision he is taking lightly. Like most candidates, he has considered his health and his family. He has talked to trusted advisors and considered the times in which we live. Perhaps most importantly, Thompson appears resolute not to tailor a message that meets the times but rather determine if he is the man for the times.

"I'm being deliberate about it and I am pursuing it every day in one way or another in order to put myself in a position to make that decision a little further down the road."

As those on the right start thinking about a Hillary candidacy, many are weighing the pragmatism of supporting the Republican candidate with the best odds of winning versus taking a principled approach and supporting a solid conservative. Therein lies the opportunity for Thompson.

Although late to the race and millions behind in fundraising, Thompson could capitalize on conservative dissatisfaction with the current crop of Republican front runners. Among the Party's base there is real concern that Romney is a flip-flopper, Giuliani is a social liberal, and McCain is off the reservation.

That bodes well for Thompson who has captured the imagination of the base and surged in the polls. In a recent LA Times/Bloomberg poll, Giuliani continues to lead with 27% support while Thompson sits in second at 21%. McCain and Romney both continue to struggle in the polls and are a distant third and fourth.

As he foreshadows his own candidacy, Thompson says, "I don't see any reason why they (conservative Republicans) have to make that choice. I don't see any reason why they can't have both. Conservatives have won before. Conservatives can win again. It becomes a matter of leadership."