Fred Thompson.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)

"The issue before us essentially is should the U.S. Congress federalize certain portions of our judicial system that, up until now, have been the province of the states?"--F. Thompson

Former Senator Fred Dalton Thompson (R-Tenn.) is better known to most Americans for his portrayal of District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order than for his senatorial voting record. In his acting role, he projects a homespun, philosophical image not radically different from Thompson the presidential candidate. In this respect, he shares much in common with Ronald Reagan, with whom he is often compared. "Fred Thompson is a Southern-fried Reagan," said the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land. "He has the same appeal."

Thompson has received considerable coverage in the mainstream press reinforcing his Reaganesque appeal. For example, an article in the Boston Globe for May 31, 2007 noted: "Thompson has staked out conservative positions on major issues--he supports gun rights, opposes same-sex marriage, and believes Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion, was wrong. He's also expressed reservations about the Senate immigration reform bill championed by McCain and President Bush."

But Thompson's positions on these issues are not black and white. Thompson answered a Christian Coalition questionnaire, stating that he was "opposed" to a proposed constitutional amendment defending human life because it limits states' fights. This opposition does not necessarily exclude him from pro-life ranks. However, when he told the Tennessee-based Conservative Spectator in a January 1994 interview, "I'm not willing to support laws that prohibit early term abortions," he parted company with pro-lifers. Nowadays, Thompson has advanced the stance that even embryonic stem-cell research is morally wrong. He advocates research only with adult stem-cell lines.

His immigration stance is not cut and dried either. Though he is against amnesties for illegal immigrants and wants to remove economic enticements such as jobs for illegal immigrants, he has voted to increase legal immigration for both skilled and unskilled laborers.

Thompson was the campaign manager for Republican U.S. Senator Howard Baker's reelection campaign in 1972 and was minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee in its investigation of the Watergate scandal. (Yes, he's a real layer.) In the latter role, he coined Howard Baker's famous question: "What did the president know, and when did he know ...