Fred Thompson

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has won the support of a major antiabortion group, but the endorsement is drawing ridicule and anger from others in the movement, underscoring deep divisions on the religious right. The political arm of the National Right to Life Committee is scheduled to endorse Thompson this morning.

White House hopeful Fred Thompson called his trip down an aisle of rifles, shotguns and pistols at a gun show in Ladson "a day in paradise." It was the former Tennessee senator's second trip to a gun show since launching his bid for the GOP nomination in September, and followed a campaign stop at a gun shop in New Hampshire a day earlier. At the Land and Sky Gun Show, Thompson picked up an old M1 Garand rifle. He also raised an over-and-under Winchester shotgun suitable for skeet shooting.

Campaigning as the only true conservative running for president, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson came to one of the most Republican towns in Republican-dominated Orange County on Saturday to deliver crowd-pleasing talk of slashing taxes and securing U.S. borders. The event was kicked off by state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a favorite among the party's conservative activists.

Now that we're coming down to the last few precious weeks before voting begins in the primaries to choose candidates in the race to decide who should lead the country and the Free World, former Sen. Fred Thompson is ramping up his campaign schedule. Seven other hard-working Republican campaigners are close on his tail. One recent morning, according to the schedule from Thompson's press office, he began his campaign day bright and early at 8:15 a.m.

Janice Easley's fury over illegal immigration boiled over Saturday as she confronted Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson at the Music Man Square museum. She said she recalled a film about Mexicans who wanted to take over California and New Mexico. Calling illegal immigrants a taxpayer burden, she wondered whether Americans could march in the streets of Mexico and demand welfare. When Iowans call up the power company, she said, "everything is in Spanish; it's sickening."

Sam Waterston said he subscribes to Meryl Streep's advice: "Stand up for your character." So after Fred Thompson left NBC's "Law & Order" in June to pursue a presidential bid, Waterston initially rejected the notion of Jack McCoy, the acerbic prosecutor Waterston has played on the show for the last 13 seasons, succeeding Thompson's Arthur Branch as district attorney.

In the months of anticipation before former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson officially entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the lawyer-actor-politician was regarded as a formidable contender. Social conservatives were considered likely to coalesce behind his candidacy. And given his Hollywood background and 6-foot-5 frame, Thompson was expected to cut an impressive figure on the campaign trail. Instead, he often has been anything but.

Just because Fred Thompson has been squiring the new Supreme Court nominee around Capitol Hill doesn't mean he's given up greasepaint. Thompson, a Republican Party stalwart and U.S. senator from 1994 to 2003, is serving as an informal advisor to John G. Roberts Jr., the judge picked last week by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.

From Senate caucus rooms to Hollywood sound stages, Fred Thompson has performed in any number of high-stakes dramas, some merely make-believe, others all too real. Most recently, the former Republican senator from Tennessee has returned to his prior vocation, acting, on NBC's never-ending prime-time drama "Law & Order."

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) abruptly canceled a reelection bid Friday, dealing a blow to GOP hopes of retaking the Senate and prompting a hunt by both parties for candidates to replace the folksy political maverick. For Democrats, the field appeared wide open after former Vice President Al Gore quashed speculation that he would seek his old Senate seat.