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Thompson Calls Himself Heir To Reagan Conservatism

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By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JO BECKER, The New York Times

Published: September 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - Fred Thompson had one central strategic goal as he formally began his presidential campaign on Thursday: to win over conservatives who are disheartened at their current choice of Republican candidates by positioning himself as the ideological and stylistic heir of Ronald Reagan.

Thompson is certainly conservative, and has been throughout his public life - particularly on the question of federalism, the size of government, tax cuts and his unvarnished support for President Bush's policies in Iraq.

Biographically and stylistically, Thompson, another former actor trying to become president, recalls the easygoing manner that Reagan used to advocate conservative solutions to the nation's challenges, as he made clear with his announcement speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday.

Yet in some notable ways, Thompson is different from Reagan, and he has at times deviated from the orthodox conservatism that Reagan, after his death and nearly two decades removed from his presidency, has come to represent.

Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, has at times voted in support of affirmative action, at other times against it; Reagan's Justice Department consistently championed efforts to eliminate it. Thompson, a former trial lawyer, has voted against efforts to impose federal caps on punitive damages and lawyers' fees, a central part of the conservative agenda.

Although he consistently voted in favor of restrictions on abortion during his eight years in the Senate, his position has not always been as clear-cut, suggesting that he evolved on the issue much the way Reagan did.

In questionnaires Thompson answered when first running for the Senate in 1994, he checked a box saying he believed abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.

Along with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Thompson was a sponsor of the campaign finance bill that was strongly opposed by conservatives and remains a target of their ire.

'Thompson was never an ideological conservative,' said Lou Cannon, a biographer of Ronald Reagan who has also written about Thompson. 'He's a very mainstream Republican. Reagan was more conservative.'

Thompson's announcement, in contrast to the announcement speeches by some of his rivals, made no mention of Reagan as he declared his candidacy on his Web site and in Des Moines on Thursday. One of his aides said there was no reason to force the comparison, since Thompson's career would lead analysts and journalists to make it on their own.

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