Fred Thompson makes his ’08 case to the House GOP

Dozens of House Republicans met with former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) yesterday to discuss the TV actor’s possible presidential ambitions.

And while Thompson didn’t attract new endorsements from the meeting with 53 House members, some seemed pleased with his presentation and indicated they would consider supporting him if he jumps into the race.

{mosads}Many House Republicans are not satisfied with the GOP field of announced candidates.

“I’m looking for someone to excite America again,” said Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

Jones said the former senator did not say whether he had decided to run, but expressed that he wanted to “carefully evaluate” the possibility.

House Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) said the “Law & Order” star has the “charisma and the fundamentals to run … but I’m still undecided.”

At a press conference following the meeting, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), who will back Thompson if he runs, said the former lawmaker was called “presidential” by attendees.

“People were hungry for leadership today,” Wamp said.

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) said Thompson has already distinguished himself from the pack by his hesitance to run.
“This isn’t a man who woke up one day and said, ‘I want to be president.’ We have encouraged him to run,” Buyer added.
“I wanted to come over and see some of my old friends and some of my new friends,” Thompson said at the meeting. He added he would likely talk to them again soon before quickly rushing into an SUV with Virginia plates.

Sports-industry figures pick their ’08 favorites

Hollywood types are not the only celebrities to weigh in with their wallets on the race for the White House.

High-profile names from the sports industry showed up on fundraising forms for several candidates in the 2008 race.
Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball, gave the maximum $4,600 to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Selig is an active Democrat, giving $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last year.

Former Dallas Cowboys and Oklahoma Sooners coach Barry Switzer cut a check for $2,000 to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), according to PoliticalMoneyLine. Switzer last year contributed $1,000 to Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).

Defying his father, CBS sports broadcaster and Sports Illustrated journalist Seth Davis gave $650 to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Seth Davis is the son of Lanny Davis, who served as White House special counsel under President Clinton.

The elder Davis, who is backing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), said, “I always taught Seth to be an independent thinker and not be influenced by his father’s politics, but I didn’t think he would take me literally. I am sure Seth and I will both be actively working for Senator Clinton for President — after she is the Democratic nominee in the general election.”

Seth Davis, a self-described political junkie, laughed about his father’s attempts to try to spin him about how to handle this news item. “I told him, ‘I can speak for myself,” the younger Davis said.

He added he favors Obama because “every time I listen to him, I believe he’s talking to me.”

Seth and Lanny, who are extremely close, both said that they argue about Obama vs. Clinton over e-mail on an almost daily basis.

— Bob cusack

For ’08ers, it’s Gonzales out, Wolfowitz in

The resignation demand is a longtime staple of Capitol Hill, allowing incensed lawmakers in one party to call for an opposition-party official’s head on a plate. This spring has brought a tumult of heave-ho requests for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose mishandling of the U.S. attorney firings scandal has made him a favorite target of Democrats (presidential hopefuls in particular).

But it looks like there’s a new bull’s-eye in town, aimed squarely at World Bank President and Iraq war architect Paul Wolfowitz. Recent revelations that Wolfowitz arranged for his girlfriend, Bank veteran Shaha Riza, to receive a hefty pay raise during her detail at the State Department sparked a resignation request last week from former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), and erstwhile candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) followed suit on Tuesday. (Kerry, however, does not believe Don Imus should have been fired.)

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by 2008 hopeful Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), has jurisdiction over U.S. participation in the World Bank, but the Senate Banking Committee, also led by a 2008 entrant in Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), has jurisdiction over multilateral lending institutions and also can impact Bank operations. Dodd said earlier this week that he would discuss the possibility of a hearing or inquiry on Wolfowitz’s actions with subcommittee Chairman Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) — who, as it happens, took himself out of the 2008 running long ago.

— Elana Schor