Thompson as the Anti-Romney?

The NY Sun is running an article on why Romney's campaign is worried about FDT

... Mr. Thompson's a threat to every candidate for the Republican nomination.

But there's one candidate whose campaign he could end almost instantaneously, should he choose to run: that of Mr. Romney. Mr. Thompson is pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, and anti-tax — like Mr. Romney. But he has one advantage over the former governor: He didn't just come to these positions over the last year or so, in a "Road to Des Moines" conversion.

On virtually every issue, Mr. Thompson is as far right, or further, than Mr. Romney, and he has been for some time.

...

"With the current field, there is, as of now, some difficulty in getting economic, foreign policy, and social conservatives all on the same page," Mr. Bauer said. "So, in view of that, I would like to see Thompson throw his hat in. … I think he'd have a reasonable chance of getting support from all three of the legs of the stool President Reagan put together."

And as Mr. Thompson appeals to social conservatives, there's nothing immediately evident that should disqualify him with fiscal conservatives.

"Generally speaking, he had a pretty fiscally conservative record," the head of the Club for Growth, Pat Toomey, told me yesterday. "There's still something approaching a void in the center of the Republican ideological spectrum. … The guy who could be dominating the center, but isn't, is Mitt Romney."

"If this void continues, then somebody like a Fred Thompson could become a first-tier candidate rather quickly," Mr. Toomey said.

HatTip to DraftThompson08
Courtesy of Ryan Sager in the NY Sun 3/21/07