Nobody is more surprised to see former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson in the 2008 race for the White House than Fred Thompson himself. At 64, with a successful acting career, a stable financial future, a second chance at family life, a bright beautiful young wife Jeri and two small children, running for President of the United States was likely not on his list of things to do.

That’s before the conservative core of the Republican Party, fed up with out of control federal spending, deteriorating individual liberties, a lack-luster national defense and the growing tolerance for leftist notions exhibited by the current crop of “moderates” busy running their GOP into the ground, passed on all others panderers and drafted their own Presidential candidate.

I could run down the list of conservative votes that make up his two term senate career, but others have already done that. I could talk about his down home southern charm, his good ole boy nature, his face and name recognition as a result of a life filled with personal accomplishments or even talk about those red pickup truck campaign stops reminiscent of much simpler days. But you already know these things.

Unlike the other candidates, it’s hard to find someone with anything bad to say about Thompson, anyone besides his political challengers of course. In a fever to find trash on Thompson somewhere, the Democrat war room tracked down every girl he ever dated between his two marriages, looking for dirt. When every woman who ever knew Thompson had only praise for what a kind, gentle natured southern gentleman he really is, Democrats knew they had a real problem on their hands. Even his ex girlfriends still like him? Never seen that before…

All of these reasons are true and valid. They all mean something. But there is an even bigger reason why Fred Thompson is the likely winner in 2008…

On the campaign trail this week, Thompson was asked why he was not participating in the Values Voter debate in Fort Lauderdale on Monday. In typical Thompson form, he responded, "Debates are important, but let's don't let the tail wag the dog here. Standing up there 10 in a row, you know, like a bunch of seals waiting for someone to throw you the next fish is not necessarily the best way to impart your information to the American people," Thompson said. "I'm not above acting like a seal every once in a while and waiting for the next fish. I just don't want to do it all the time."

Atop the list of many disappointments in our federal government today is the clear message that nobody in Washington DC has the least bit of common sense or honesty about them. Okay, let’s say a few do, but so few that they aren’t worth counting. Modern politicians are just career politicians. They aren’t the pillars of our communities anymore and I don’t care which political party you’re trying to blindly defend.

Washington is full of career liars and every American knows it. Now, the average American voter can not always detect a lie when it’s told by a really good liar and let’s face it, our nation's best liars aren’t reading scripts in Hollywood, our village idiots are. Our best liars are reading campaign cue cards in Washington DC.

The people may not always catch the lie as it’s told by the best liars in the business. But Americans inherently know the truth when they see it or hear it and that’s what they seem to like about Fred Thompson.

There isn’t a single American who wouldn’t describe modern campaign debates the same way Fred did, or feel about them just as he does, as a result. But what politician has the nerve to say it out loud for God and the whole world to hear? Besides Thompson I mean… I was starting to wonder if I was the only American who noticed what a ridiculous scam the debates had become.

For starters, any American that understands our current confrontation with international jihadists inherently knows that leaving Iraq has nothing to do with leaving the war. It only represents moving the central front in that war from there to here. It doesn’t take a national security expert to recognize the flaw in that plan. But apparently, it does take one smarter than the average politician.

Like Thompson, voters also know that there is no such thing as a “pro-war” American. Americans don’t like war, any war, anytime, for any reason. Good men die and not one American likes it.

However, they also understand that there are only those Americans who are willing to fight to defend this nation and those who are not. They know which ones are responsible for the freedoms we enjoy today and which ones they can count on to secure those freedoms for tomorrow too.

They know that some Americans will leave their loved ones behind and travel half way around the globe to some God forsaken hell hole where they might well die trying to protect and preserve the American ideal. They also know that there are those who won’t fight even once they have allowed the war to come to their doorstep and that these folks can’t be counted on for anything.

They are starting to figure out that we don’t have liberals anymore. Liberals believe in personal liberty, not federally mandated rights for a greater communal good. Liberals believe in personal freedom, not an endless supply of free (paid for by others) stuff. They are figuring out that what we have today is Democratic Socialists, not their grandfathers Democrats. JFK would be kicked out of the DNC today just like Joe Lieberman, if he dared to utter the words “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Americans know what real civil rights are all about. They are those rights which were “endowed by our Creator” (who is no longer allowed in our schools, our courts or our civic offices), and they apply to every man who was created equal by a kind and generous free-will God, not just special interest voting blocs. They are those “unalienable” rights that NO politician, NO voting bloc has the power to take away from any individual, no matter their race, color, creed or social agenda.

Americans know that it is our common love and respect for freedom, personal liberty and the opportunity to be anything we want to be, that bonds us together as a people, not the celebration of our differences based on such superficial nonsense as the color of one's skin or ethnic heritage. It’s our common future, not our diverse past, which makes us One Nation.

Fred Thompson is the only candidate drafted into the 2008 race by the people. He is the people’s candidate. All others aspire to be President for a variety of largely selfish reasons. Thompson has been clear - he wasn’t thinking about running, he has never aspired to hold the office. He was asked to make a difference, sees a need and an opportunity to make a difference and is willing to make that difference. That’s the difference!

All other candidates see themselves as the answer to every problem. Fred Thompson correctly sees the American people as the solution to every problem and politicians as their biggest problem. Thompson clearly believes in himself. But he obviously believes even more in the power of the American people and I for one, share that belief.

People always claim to want real change. Our Republican President has a 30% public approval rating and our Democrat congress has less than a 20% approval rating. This means that 70-80% of Americans think we can do better than either of them… They are right.

Some say Thompson is too old, but frankly, on those rare occasions when I’ve been lucky enough to stumble into true wisdom in this world - it has never come out of anyone any younger than Thompson.

Some say he’s a Washington insider. He’s a former Senator who set his own term limits when he ran and lived by them. That’s hardly a career politician. Other’s say he’s too well connected in Washington. But anyone not well connected in Washington can’t get anything done in Washington.

Still others doubt that he is qualified to be President of the United States. Can you name the last President that we all would agree was qualified? Exactly what are those qualifications? I’m quite certain that nothing can fully prepare one to be president of the greatest nation on earth.

To be certain, Thompson has and will have his detractors. But he will also resonate with average American voters across the political spectrum because he is making it clear that he is going to be true to himself first. He’d rather lose the race for the right reasons than win it for the wrong reasons and America is overdue for just such a leader.

 Some will say I’m campaigning for Thompson, and maybe I am at this point, though I sure wasn’t planning to, anymore than Thompson was planning to run for President ten months ago.

 Maybe we both just see a need and an opportunity to make a difference.

 Maybe the American people see it too!