Word: thompson
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...single most compelling feature of a Thompson candidacy would be his magnetism. A natural storyteller, he speaks with a relaxed cadence and unhurried confidence, peppering his remarks with language such as "fella" and "bad guys," pausing expertly to make a point, relish an applause line, set up a joke. He is most effective when he makes fun of the superficial glamour of Los Angeles and the tangled hypocrisy of D.C. In a recent appearance, he supplied a cheeky anecdote about a fellow Senator coming up to him after he gave his first speech on the Senate floor, which...
...Thompson is most often compared to Ronald Reagan, and the comparison is apt. Neither would be mistaken for an intellectual, but both got plenty of mileage out of regularly concealing their smarts. Both placed an emphasis on grand, classic American themes, and both offered a folksy way of describing the holy trinity of conservative dogma (lower taxes, less government and a strong national defense...
...That is not to say Thompson hasn't had to overcome many personal hardships - a marriage while in high school after conceiving a child with his teenage girlfriend, a subsequent divorce, a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma 2 1/2 years ago and, perhaps most traumatic, the sudden death of his daughter Betsy in 2002 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. He is now married to a Republican political strategist and has two small children...
...Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, Thompson, the son of a used-car salesman, had no family ties to big-time politics or Hollywood, but his charisma - and luck - eventually helped him succeed in both. After putting himself through college at Memphis State and law school at Vanderbilt, he spent several years in private practice and as a prosecutor and then went on to Washington in 1973 to work on the Watergate investigation. His foray into acting began accidentally. Film director Roger Donaldson interviewed the young lawyer while doing research for a movie about a corruption case and offered...
...unlike the genial Reagan, Thompson's manner can be brusque and his most natural expression is a scowl. Critics question his endurance: he has a reputation for resisting a demanding schedule and is undisciplined as a campaigner. In a recent speech to California Republicans, Thompson began with some jokes that were well received but then abandoned his carefully written text and rambled through remarks that left many in the audience underwhelmed. His high school football coach in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., told the Nashville Tennessean, "He was smart, but he was lazy. He probably could have been a straight-A student...