FRED THOMPSON ENTERS THE RACE

Former Tennessee senator and star of screen and television Fred Thompson has joined the dozens of other candidates for the presidency. A social conservative, Thompson will run as a Republican, hoping no doubt to emulate the success of that other former actor, Ronald Reagan.

We questioned our favorite candidate, Democrat Carl Perrin. How does he feel about running against a well-known actor, a man who already has a lot of political experience? As always, Perrin was upbeat in his response to this challenge. He pointed out that he had done quite a lot of acting himself, going all the way back to college, where he played the nasty brother-in-law in Beggar on Horseback. He has also played a doctor, a lawyer, Don Juan, and the gentleman caller in The Glass Menagerie.

“I never appeared on television or in the movies,” Perrin said, “but I have been on stage a lot, and a lot of people have seen me perform.” He said that a teacher is a performer, especially an English teacher who introduces his students to Shakespeare by reading the parts to them. Finally our actor-teacher-candidate offered to recite Hamlet’s “Oh, what a rogue and coward slave am I” soliloquy. Unfortunately, we had another appointment so could stay to hear Perrin recite.