Better Late than Premature

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander suggests that the late entry of his fellow Tennessean into the presidential sweepstakes will be to Fred Thompson's advantage, saying that those candidates who have been laboring in the race for months already will be "less fresh" to voters.

Of course, Senator Alexander would be expected to spin the situation in favor of his former colleague. However, the argument is also a plausible one. In their quest for an early lead, the other candidates have been knocking themselves out at a time when most of the country is not yet paying attention and, in fact, resents the intrusion of the election in their lives more than a year prior to the actual event.

Most of those claiming that Mr. Thompson's late entry will have a negative impact are political junkies and pundits who live and breathe this stuff -- or whispering lieutenants of one of the major candidates hoping that saying its true makes it so.