politics

As the tall, avuncular guy ambled across the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Monday morning, he generated isolated pockets of buzz, some of it puzzled.

"Hey, it's that guy from 'Law and Order,' the one running for president," a man said to his wife.

"Fred Anderson? No, uh, Thompson," she replied.

"Run, Fred, run!" a couple of other fairgoers shouted as Fred Thompson settled into a talk radio broadcast seat.

The former Tennessee senator brought his kinda-sorta-still-unannounced presidential campaign to the fair, where he squeezed two radio appearances in with a stint at the state Republican Party booth.

The excitement surrounding him increased as he worked his way across the fairgrounds, to a point where more than 100 people jammed the GOP booth, trying to get his autograph on their fair maps, baseballs and DVDs of some of Thompson's many movies.

Many said they were looking at him as much as a TV star as a politician, a fact he didn't shy from. "You can call me Arthur," he said at one point, referring to the district attorney character he plays on "Law and Order." He urged his listeners to keep watching reruns of the show, "because I still get a little residual check from the show. I need it, especially if I go into public housing."

'Going by my own rules'

Thompson has been coyly tiptoeing up to formally announcing a run for president for months, but has repeatedly held off doing so, as he did again Monday.

His refusal to formally commit "is not part of a campaign strategy or being cute," he said. "I think it's pretty clear the direction I'm headed in."

Saying only that he would formally announce soon, he added, "soon means soon."

More than once, he said he was merely defying "all the politicians and pundits who say what's taking you so long. The history books say that campaigns usually don't start until September or October, but the pundits said they wanted to change the rules this time. I wasn't in the room when they changed the rules. ... I'm going by my own rules."

For all of Thompson's demurrals, his first campaign stop in Minnesota was expected to be a lucrative one, capped by a $1,000-per-person fundraiser hosted by the same Republican rainmakers who hosted President Bush at a fundraiser for Sen. Norm Coleman last week.

Thompson's fundraiser drew the ire of the Democratic National Committee, which complained that his so-called "testing the waters" campaign, including Monday's fundraiser, is "testing the limits" of federal campaign finance laws.

Several campaign finance reform groups have made similar accusations and a Democratic operative filed a complaint about Thompson's fundraising with the Federal Election Commission last week.

Sounding like a candidate, too

Reporters were treating Thompson like a bona fide candidate Monday, peppering him with questions about the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales did nothing wrong, Thompson said, "but he didn't handle this well -- and he doesn't have a monopoly on that in Washington. ... I'm glad the president didn't let his political enemies run him out of town, but did things at his own pace."