Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Age of Celebrity Politics: May Sweeps May Delay Thompson



(image via cnn)

Granted, it is astonishingly early for endorsements; still -- the entire process has changed this year. One would think that with a full field of all shades of Republican, there would be more shoring up of endorsements in the horserace. Prominent House Republicans have been witholding their nominations. Why? From Our favorite Dickensian villain, Robert Novak:

"ALTHOUGH revelation of his cancer history has cleared the decks for Fred Thompson to run for the Republican presidential nomination, his commitments as a TV and radio performer may delay his announcement until June.

"As an actor on NBC's 'Law and Order,' Thompson can scarcely abandon the show during the May ratings sweeps and has taped programs that will be aired then. He also has commitments to ABC as a stand-in for radio commentator Paul Harvey.

"There was no reason for Thompson to make the cancer revelation if he did not plan to run for president, and this indicates he intends to join the race. However, prominent Republicans are delaying an endorsement until he actually announces his candidacy."

Have we precedent? Has any nominee from either party been held up from announcing because of "sweeps week"? Ah, welcome to the age of Celebrity Politics. When Obama appeared shirtless in People, you know it was on like Gray Poupon -- and we predicted it.

No comments: