"It's A Lot More Difficult to Get on The Tonight Show Than It Is To Get Into a Presidential Debate"

Leave it to Fred Thompson, the newest presidential candidate and noted plain-speaker to point to the obvious (Republican) elephant in the living room.

Fred's right when he says

It's a lot more difficult to get on The Tonight Show than it is to get into a presidential debate.

I can see why supporters of the crowd of Republican candidates would want to pooh-pooh Fred Thompson, his team, his timing and his technique. After all, pooh-poohing is too much of what politics is about these days. But the reality is that The Tonight Show's guest list is more exclusive than this year's presidential primary, the audience is larger, the impact greater.

Any of the candidates capable of a moderate amount of independent thought, given the choice between a cattle call of echoing sound bites of what passes for a debate and the few minutes of undivided attention that guests are afforded on Jay Leno's couch, should choose either the couch or a different profession.

I don't know whether Fred will win, but I fully expect Fred to campaign to the tune of a different drummer.

Besides, I'm sure The Tonight Show paid scale.

Higher ratings, more intense attention, make a buck. Not so dumb.

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