SNEAK PEEK: Thompson Campaign Gets Underway

Former Senator Turned Actor Enters '08 Race

ByABC News
January 8, 2009, 1:46 AM

September 5, 2007— -- And. . . action! The much anticipated '08 White House campaign of Fred Dalton Thompson gets underway tonight in carefully choreographed fashion.

While you're watching the airing of FDT on Jay Leno, you can simultaneously log onto ImwithFred.com (soon to be renamed Fred08.com) at 12:01 am ET and see the ardent former Senator announce his candidacy for president in a webcast.

He'll be absent from Wednesday night's squabble among the Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire but his presence will be felt when Fox News airs a Thompson ad focusing on his three pillars: Security, Unity, Prosperity. You can view the ad here: LINK

It's on to Iowa for Thompson on Thursday in what will be a critical 3 day swing through the nation's first caucus state. Thompson delivers 11:30 am ET remarks at the Polk County Convention Complex in Des Moines followed by a 7:00 pm ET meeting with residents at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs. On Saturday, he'll make his way to New Hampshire for a couple of days of campaigning there.

In other news…we're waiting to see how/if the Senate Ethics Committee responds to the letter from Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's legal team arguing the Ethics Committee does not have any jurisdiction to investigate the senator for his arrest in a Minneapolis airport men's room. LINK

If you happened to miss ABC News Now's "Politics Live" today, Roll Call reporter David M. Drucker explained how Craig's Saturday morning misdial landed into the hands of the Capitol Hill publication.

"It fell into our lap,"Drucker recalled explaining how Craig had been calling a particular phone number for the past several weeks without leaving a message, a phone number which belonged to an acquaintance of Drucker.

"What are the odds?" Drucker added.

As for the rest of Thursday's events...

Mitt Romney raises campaign coin in New York and Washington DC. His Wife Ann does the same in Plano, Illinois. The Democratic Party in Massachusetts is hoping to discredit the former governor with a website RomneyFacts.com LINK