Thompson Entering Race Soon

The long-anticipated announcement that Fred Thompson is entering the GOP presidential race appears all but over according to this quote from Zach Wamp in today's Hill Magazine:

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) said Monday that he expects former Sen. Fred Thompson, (R-TN), to soon join the race for the White House. "My view is that he’ll enter the race at some point just in the coming days," said Wamp, a key supporter of Thompson.

When Sen. Thompson officially enters the race, it essentially trims the field down to him and Rudy. I've said before that Mitt Romney has the finances to stay in the race but he doesn't have the definitive message to win voters over. Fred Thompson's announcement should be likened to a great white shark entering the swimming area at a beach because he's the candidate that will clear the waters of the second tier candidates.

Thompson has long been expected to join the race and the Law & Order star has traveled the country and raised millions. He will take part in a large fundraising event in Washington, D.C. on July 29, but Wamp did not say when a formal announcement would come. The lawmaker said, however, that "a couple dozen members" of the House would publicly support Thompson at the event.

It'll be interesting in seeing which GOP House members join Sen. Thompson at this event. It's just a hunch but I'm betting that Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling and Eric Cantor might be part of that contingent.

"I’ve talked to quite a few of McCain’s supporters in the House of Representatives, a couple in the United States Senate, that are concerned about McCain’s standing right now and the fact that he's lost his momentum," Wamp said on MSNBC. He added that Thompson is the second choice of many McCain supporters.

McCain ever had momentum? Who knew?

"I feel like Giuliani’s running on 9/11 fumes and those fumes are slowly evaporating because there’s got to be the substance and the policy," Wamp said. "And [Giuliani] doesn’t connect with the base of our party."

With all due respect to Rep. Wamp, that's some of the finest spin I've read in awhile. Considering Giuliani's announcement of his legal advisory team yesterday, I'm not smelling the same fumes that Rep. Wamp reportedly is.

Technorati: Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Zach Wamp, Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, Eric Cantor, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog