I had gotten a hint earlier this week from a Thompson Associate that I should watch the Country Music Awards. A crying baby interfered with that. While Thompson’s attendance has been mentioned – he was a guest of John Rich of Big & Rich, who apparently has “Vote Fred 08″ on his guitar – he didn’t appear to make a huge splash.

On the other hand, Team Fred has to love headlines like this one in South Carolina: “For a politician, he sure seems like one of us.”

The lead: “A campaign event in a bar, in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday — Fred Thompson seemed like my kind of guy. And after he spoke at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Fort Mill — which is technically a restaurant, but any place with eight beers on tap and ashtrays on the bar is a bar — many of about 150 people who packed the place said Fred Thompson is their kind of guy, too…”