Thompson Trumps Romney

By RYAN SAGER | March 21, 2007

Dun-dun.

That's the sound, ubiquitous on the NBC crime-and-punishment drama "Law & Order," that's been haunting the nightmares of the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, for the last week and a half. That is, ever since the former Republican senator of Tennessee, Fred Thompson, went on "Fox News Sunday" to declare that he's "going to leave the door open" to a presidential run.

The lawyer-turned-actorturned-senator-turned-actor — best known from TV as the downhome, tough-as-nails District Attorney Arthur Branch on "Law & Order" — hasn't announced, hasn't campaigned, and hasn't been on the political radar since leaving the Senate in 2003. Yet suddenly he's being hailed as the next Ronald Reagan. With this kind of rhetorical heat at his back, Mr. Thompson's a threat to every candidate for the Republican nomination.

But there's one candidate whose campaign he could end almost instantaneously, should he choose to run: that of Mr. Romney.

Read the whole story at NYSunPolitics.com.