Now that it looks as if all three of the “first-tier” declared Republican Presidential candidates are going to self-destruct before launch, the best bet to get the nomination would seem to be former Senator, actor, and lobbyist Fred Thompson (R-K Street). Time to crank up the oppo research.
Here’s a place to start: the Watergate hearings. At the end of the day, Thompson’s boss Howard Baker bailed on Nixon. But when the outcome was still in question, I recall Baker carrying a lot of water for the White House, even as Lowell Weicker was earning a place in history and the undying enmity of his party by doing the right thing. I’d bet there are some people still around — including John Dean — with some interesting Fred Thompson stories to tell.
Let him put that in his illegal Cuban cigar and smoke it.