That is certainly how it appears at this point, as actor and former Senator Fred Thompson begins assembling a campaign staff and making public disclosures of potentially embarrassing information prior to a potential summer announcement.

Advisers to Fred Thompson have begun exploring a range of staffing options -- including talking to potential campaign managers -- as the actor and former Tennessee senator firms up his plans to enter the Republican presidential contest, according to people involved in the conversations.

Thompson has not made a final decision but is on track to be ready to announce his candidacy in June or July, his advisers say. Thompson has already been polling better than some of the announced GOP candidates, and his entry would shake up a field that has left many Republican faithful dissatisfied.

Thompson also has begun inoculating himself against potential attacks from rivals. During a question-and-answer session with House members on April 18, Thompson was asked about his colorful dating history from 1985 to 2002, while he was divorced.

And let's be honest here -- most of us are not going to be troubled by Thompson's colorful love life during his single years, especially in light of the noted fidelity problems of Gingrich and Giuliani.

What I find most interesting, though, is this possible new dynamic -- one which is not really new.

On the day Thompson revealed he has cancer, he hinted at an unorthodox blueprint when he said that he thinks it's possible to join the field without abandoning his family.

"Going on the road for months at a time, and for all practical purposes, just checking [in] every once in a while, I wouldn't do that," he told Fox's Neil Cavuto. "I don't think it has to be done that way. I know people will expect that of everyone -- to run frenetically around for years. And I don't do frenetic very well."

In the old days, candidates did not run for president. It was sen as undignified for a potential president to be out on the hustings, pressing the flesh and behaving like a mere politician. Lincoln did not campaign actively, and neither did any other candidate up until the early twentieth century. Instead, they stayed home and went about their business, with surrogates campaigning on the r behalf while they made speeches and issued statements from their home or Washington. Given our media age, and the immediacy of the internet and cable news, this might be a preferable -- and cheaper -- model for us to follow. And if fred Thompson can pull it off, it might be a healthy development for America.

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