Fred Thompson to Officially Join Presidential Race
SANCHEZ: I want you to tell me, as you look at that man, who that is.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He looks very familiar.</s>SANCHEZ: Maybe you have seen him on TV?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>SANCHEZ: Maybe "Law & Order"?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>SANCHEZ: Fred Thompson?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.</s>SANCHEZ: So, you're a Republican.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.</s>SANCHEZ: And you're a Democrat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>SANCHEZ: They're saying, oh, the next Ronald Reagan. Do you buy it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I haven't heard enough from him yet.</s>SANCHEZ: All right, they may not know him now, but they soon will. Fred Thompson, actor and former senator, has officially set the date and will get into the presidential race next Thursday. We took his picture down to Times Square and talked to an equal number of liberals and conservatives about this.</s>SANCHEZ: I want you to look at that picture, look into the camera, and tell me who that is.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No clue.</s>SANCHEZ: Don't have a clue?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the guy from "Law & Order" who is running for presidency for the Republicans. I can't remember his name.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a Republican from -- where is he from?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>SANCHEZ: Who is that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is Senator Fred Thompson.</s>SANCHEZ: Well done.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Is he -- is he in the race?</s>SANCHEZ: All right. It's official. It looks like Fred Thompson is going to become a candidate for the Republican ticket.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're kidding? Really? You're talking to Democrats.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I -- I'm more of a Rudy man than a Fred Thompson man.</s>SANCHEZ: A lot of people are saying, this guy is the one who is going to energize the party, because he's Reaganesque.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's semi-Reaganesque. Basically, he answers all the issues, and that's why I will be voting for him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... high standard, in my opinion.</s>SANCHEZ: A good candidate is a good candidate?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so.</s>SANCHEZ: You don't think he's a good candidate?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is he going to do, get up on stage?</s>SANCHEZ: Why would they compare him to a Republican president from the past? Why not compare to the Republican president who is in the office now?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's kind of easy, right, when your approval rating is horrendous, and Ronald Reagan's was great?</s>SANCHEZ: Let's now bring in Cheri Jacobus, Republican strategist and founder of Capitol Strategies. Cheri, thanks so much for being with us.</s>CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to be here.</s>SANCHEZ: Is this going to be tough? Is it going to be tough? I mean, there's been a lot of hype around this guy.</s>JACOBUS: Well, sure.</s>SANCHEZ: Now he's got to do the real deal. Can you overcome that?</s>JACOBUS: Oh, no, I think that he's doing fine. Look, there's a lot of anticipation about him getting into this race. I think it adds some excitement. And here's the dirty little secret about campaigns and politics. And you saw some of this in the piece in some of your interviews. Regular people, people who are not in politics and are not in the media, they really aren't paying close attention right now. Labor Day is usually that sort of line in the sand of demarcation where, after that, people get back from their summer vacations, and they start paying attention. So, this might be just the perfect timing for Fred Thompson.</s>SANCHEZ: Let me ask you something about the way he is going to probably want to portray himself, probably the way a lot of politicians want to portray themselves: I'm the outsider. I'm not like those folks inside the beltway in Washington. Yet, this guy used to be a lobbyist in Washington. You can't get more inside than that. Is that a problem?</s>JACOBUS: You know, lobbyists, it's sort of a dirty word. But they're not all bad. And there is a very necessary function and a need for them. And there's lots of them in Washington. You only tend to hear about the bad ones. I don't think that is a problem for him. The fact that he was a staffer in Washington, then he went out and did something else, and he's been in Hollywood, he's been an actor, then he was a senator, so, he's kind of done a number of different things, I think he -- you know, he might just strike the right tone in terms of: I have been there long enough where I understand it, but I have done other things, so it's not like it's something I need, and I'm not a complete political animal. And, so, for Fred Thompson, this might be just the right chord for him to strike with the American people.</s>SANCHEZ: Before I let you go, let me ask you some of the questions I asked some of the folks out there. First of all, is he Reaganesque? And why the comparison to Reagan? Why not compare him to the Republican who is in the White House right now? And what does that say about the Republican who is in the White House right now?</s>JACOBUS: Well, you know, everybody that's running for office likes to have something about them that's compared to Ronald Reagan. Some people have tried to compare him. They have sort of backed off from that. But I think anybody running for president wants to run as their own man or their own woman and not be compared to anyone else, maybe take the better things from former presidents, whether they be Democrats or Republicans.</s>SANCHEZ: OK. Now, 15 seconds. Don't scrub my last question, the one about why they're comparing him to a former president and not a present president, when the guy in the office now is a Republican?</s>JACOBUS: Well, you know, we just might see as the campaign wears on that there are some of the candidates that want to compare themselves to George W. Bush in certain areas. Like I said, they're going to extract...</s>SANCHEZ: Can you name any at this point?</s>JACOBUS: Oh, I think that the sincerity of this president and the way he's been consistent, whether people agree with him or not is something that the history books will look at him and say, you know, good job. That is what we need in a president. All right, Shari Jacobus, we thank you, we appreciate your time.</s>JACOBUS: Thank you.</s>SANCHEZ: Proof of flying saucers? Are they real? This isn't Roswell, New Mexico, it's Davis, California. A company called MORE International, has built an actual flying car. It's great if you're stuck in traffic. They hope to produce about half dozen in the next year, want to work up to a couple hundred a year, they say, eventually. There it is. Take a look inside. Coming up, the exclusive results of a CNN investigation: Soft spots in our security. What happens if terrorists attack using this method? Listen to this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...talking about something that rivals nuclear weapons.</s>SANCHEZ: A clear and present danger and a warning. Why aren't we doing more to protect ourselves? This is a report you are going to want to see later. A deadly finger reaching down from the clouds. We'll explain.