Fred Thompson Edging Toward 2008 Bid

Fred Thompson says the country faces different challenges now than it did when he spurned overtures to run for president in 2000, leading him to consider a return to politics.

"I think that everybody was kind of sitting back, taking it easy and thinking that, you know, peace and prosperity were going to kind of last forever. I think we know better than that now," the former Tennessee senator told The Associated Press.

We live in a more dangerous (time of) things that threaten our very existence, things that threaten our peace, things that threaten our economic stability."

In an interview Saturday night before speaking to the Virginia GOP, Thompson would not talk in detail about why he believes he might make a good president or what his priorities would be. "I'd do lots of things," he said, declining to elaborate.

During his 1994-2002 Senate tenure, he was considered a reliably conservative vote. But he had few significant legislative achievements and established a reputation as a less-than-hard worker.

"That's one rap that you can cure," Thompson said.

When pressed, he struggled to name his greatest accomplishment in the Senate. He said he managed the homeland security bill in the full Senate and added: "There were a lot of things. ... It doesn't always have to do with putting your name on a piece of legislation. There was an awful lot of bad legislation that I helped to stop for one thing."

But, he said with a smile, "We'll have a chance to get into all that when I start telling everybody what a wonderful person I am. But we're not quite at that stage."

At least not yet.

After flirting with a candidacy for months, the former senator and actor known to millions as the tough prosecutor on NBC's "Law & Order" took the first formal step toward the race for the GOP nomination Friday in establishing a preliminary campaign committee.

Thompson, however, said he still was not ready to commit to a 2008 campaign.

"We've not made a final decision on it. But obviously we're thinking pretty seriously about it," he said. "Everybody who has an opportunity to make even a small difference in the course of the direction of the country has got to look at that very seriously."....