Fred Thompson: "I'm Running for President of the United States"

When a candidate announces his run for the presidency on a taped TV show, has he officially announced his candidacy before the show airs?

Yes!

Fred Thompson made it official. He's running for president.

Following in Arnold Schwarzenegger's footsteps, Thompson used Jay Leno's Tonight Show as his forum to address the public.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Fred Thompson — veteran actor, former Republican senator — launched his bid for the presidency Hollywood style. "I'm running for president of the United States," Thompson told Jay Leno in a taped appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show" airing Wednesday night.

Thompson called top opponents Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney formidable but added: "I think I will be, too" as he rejected the notion that he was getting into the race too late, only four months before voting begins.

"I don't think people are going to say, 'You know, that guy would make a very good president but he just didn't get in soon enough,'" Thompson said as the studio audience laughed. Poking at his rivals who have been running since the year began, he added: "If you can't get your message out in a few months, you're probably not ever going to get it out."

In a multi-phased campaign rollout, Thompson also called attention to his candidacy with a 30-second ad broadcast during a Republican debate in New Hampshire that he skipped. He will explain the rationale for his candidacy during a 15-minute Webcast on his campaign Internet site just after midnight.

FINALLY!

Fred is in!

From Politico:

At 7:57 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, while taping "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" for broadcast later in the evening, Fred Thompson finally said: "I'm running for president of the United States."

The studio audience responded with thunderous applause.

Thompson rejected the notion that he has waited too long to get into the race for the White House.

"People treat politicians sort of like the dentist -- they don't have anything to do with them till they have to," he said.

"I wasn't in the room when they made the rules, so I had to kind of follow my own lead," Thompson said, adding that he doubts voters will say: "That guy would make a very good president, but he didn't get in soon enough."

Leno joked with Thompson about how long he has been "testing the waters," asking: "Are you starting to get a little wrinkly?"

"These wrinkles don't come from the water," Thompson, 65, replied, to laughter. Referring to a guest announcement Leno made just before the segment, he joked: "I've been mistaken for Dr. Phil."

Just after midnight, Thompson will post an announcement video on his website.

Former senator John Edwards started the trend. Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Sam Brownback, among others, followed suit. And now, late into the primary season, Fred Thompson too is announcing his candidacy via an online video, to be posted on his Web site at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

The difference is, Thompson's video announcement clocks in at 15 minutes -- longer than Edwards's, Clinton's Obama's and Brownback's combined. In the YouTubesphere, the length of a video, especially a politically-oriented video, is often as important as its content. And 15 minutes, some online strategists said, "would feel like an eternity." Even for the telegenic Thompson, who played New York City Disrict Attorney Arthur Branch in the popular TV show "Law & Order."

"Maybe the video is aimed at the 'Law & Order' audience that's used to Branch's long speeches in the court room before commercial breaks," quipped Colin Delany at epolitics.com. "Or maybe his campaign haven't been paying attention on what works on sites like YouTube." Added Dan Manatt of PoliticsTV.com: "It's a big red flag that his announcement video is that long. It seems that Fred Thompson is not only late to the party when it comes to election, he's late to the party when it comes to figuring out how to do an announcement video."

Officials at the Thompson campaign were eager to explain the video's length. As the latest candidate to announce a White House bid, the former two-term senator is unknown to most Americans, and the video, aides said, is his "official statement to the electorate." It's part bio-pic, part motivational pitch that distinguishes Thompson from the crowded Republican field, said Eric Livingston, who heads the campaign's online team. "The senator didn't jump into the race a year ago," Livingston added. "People haven't heard as much from him."

Scanning the lib media, I see a bunch of people analyzing Thompson's many errors.

Why is Thompson doomed?

Let me count the ways!

We get spin about Thompson's Leno appearance, spin about his announcement video, and spin about his failure to show up at the New Hampshire debate.

That has to be a Ron Paul supporter in that duck suit.

Judging by the duck's buddies, I think it definitely is one of Paul's quacks.

Notice all the Ron Paul signs?


I think it's ridiculous for Republicans, and probably some incognito Democrats posing as Republicans, to be criticizing Thompson for not participating in the New Hampshire debate.

It's just one debate.

I can't count how many times I've heard talking heads warn about how dangerous it is to tick off New Hampshire voters. Supposedly, they're offended that Thompson was a no-show on Wednesday night.

Give me a break!

New Hampshire has 4 electoral votes.

Yeah, it's a make or break state.

Oh, no! What would Thompson do without New Hampshire?

Right.

Time to get a grip.

Here's the reality, the big picture:

Thompson's appearance on Leno's show will not determine the outcome of the '08 election.

The length of Thompson's announcement video will not determine the outcome of the '08 election.

Thompson's absence at the September 5 New Hampshire debate will not determine the outcome of the '08 election.