The Den Campaign Begins

Fred Thompson kicked off his much-anticipated, much-prophecied campaign yesterday from his comfy, wood-paneled den.

What a way to prove to your critics that you're NOT lazy.

"Lazy" is the word Thompson's backers don't like to hear. It's akin to calling attention to old people when you're talking to John McCain's staff.

Valid or not, the press believes that Thompson has a reputation for being lazy. And they've begun to believe that he doesn't intend to campaign like a regular candidate, preferring the blog media to appearances before Altoona, IA's finest journalists.

Thompson's strategy has been mischaracterized. What he intends to do, we are told, is to choose his spots. He will visit the early primary and caucus states for days at a time, avoiding the brisk, 6-event a day pace that's common to campaigns come the fall.

Here are some thresholds that he'll have to cross in the next few months. Some are artificial and media-imposed, and others are real.

## -- he'll have to demonstrate his ability to raise at least $5M and much of it from small donors. No one doubts that he can pick up $4600 checks from his den. Converting his popularity into a political movement is harder.

## -- he'll have to distinguish himself from John McCain, and not just on immigration.

## -- he'll have to answer a series of questions about his core ideas and how well they fit with the views of conservative activists

## -- he'll have to decide whether to participate in the Ames straw poll, and then decide how to announce his decision

## -- he'll have to practice his debating skills and cross an artificial competence threshold for debates

## -- he'll have to decide whether he runs as an anti-press candidate who, instead of answering tough questions, decries the press bias that allegedly produced said questions

## -- he'll have to demonstrate how he is different from George W. Bush

## -- he'll have to answer for his alleged laziness at some point.

Here is what he told the AP and NBC News about his Senate career:

Well, I facetiously said ‘leaving the Senate’ the other day, when somebody asked me that question. But, I don't guess I ought to say that again. There are a lot of things, you know..uh … I would take a while, I guess, in discussing all of that. Doesn't always have to do with putting your name on a piece of legislation. There's an awful lot of bad legislation that i had to stop, for one thing. I managed the Homeland Security bill when it was on the Senate floor, and several other things. We'll get a chance to get into all of that when I start talking to everybody about what a wonderful person I am. But we're not quite at that stage yet.