So Fred Thompson finally enters the fray as the GOP battle for the Presidential nomination really heats up.  Here is a smattering of articles about the "Law and Order" star's announcement.

This one from the Politico suggests Thompson has a large hill to climb to capture the GOP nomination.  This piece from Stuart Rothenberg essentially states that Thompson played coy for too long and that both former Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee may have taken his potentially nascent support from the conservative wing of the party.  Finally, a piece that talks about his upcoming appearance of Jay Leno, his avoidance of tomorrow's New Hampshire GOP debate, and his provocative tv ad aired on Fox News during that debate.

All in all I think we don't know how Thompson will do.  He went from being the knight in shining armor for dissatisfied conservatives to a lazy candidate who can't control his campaign before it even gets started.   I think the reality is that it has been early.  Thompson's early team made some miscues, however, most of the time this is the beginning of a Presidential race and mistakes like this are more of a legitimate growing pain as opposed to a full blown meltdown as the media has tried to portray it.

It is certainly possible Thompson could fall badly, he probably can't really compete in Iowa now, has seemed to snub New Hampshire, and will have to contend in Michigan before his obvious state of choice for a primary breakthrough, South Carolina.

All said, if he sharpens his speeches, raises some money, and performs reasonably well at the next debate (which he will finally participate in) he can still do well.  I don't think the base is completely happy with Rudy, they still are touchy on Romney, McCain has faded, and Huckabee still is too small for anything except maybe a VP nod.  The door is open, not closed.  The question is, can Thompson get all the way through before one of his longer running opponents finally does get it closed behind them?