Honk If You're Not Running for U.S. President

When I read the headline, ``Republican Thompson Enters Race,'' in the newspaper yesterday, I thought that was pretty quick. On Saturday night at the Gridiron Dinner in Washington, Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and TV star, said he wasn't ready to formally announce his candidacy.

But it wasn't that Thompson, it was Tommy Thompson. The former Wisconsin governor and Health and Human Services secretary has never even been under serious consideration for vice president, yet here he is, years out of office, throwing his hat in the ring for president.

One of his more peculiar pursuits in the interim was joining the board of VeriChip Corp. He once said he was going to have the company's chip -- which can be injected in human flesh and contains a person's medical history -- implanted in his own hide.

He found time away from the chips to make numerous visits to Iowa, spending time in a third of the state's counties. He claims ``it's really looking good'' for him in the Hawkeye State.

Thompson's bid isn't the least plausible one in the 2008 presidential field. That honor belongs to Dennis Kucinich, a repeat offender who may scarcely lock up the vegan vote.

Read the whole column here.