p>Transcript of Sen. Fred Thompson‘s press conference at Jackson, 3-8-02:
“It was a very personal decision. We just have some other priorities right now
that we need to take care of. I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to serve the
people of Tennessee. It’s been the greatest honor of my professional life.
But frankly, as the way life takes us on twists and turns, and for me, it’s
resulted in me just not having the heart to run another campaign and serve
another six years in Washington. There are a lot of personal things connected
with that, but I don’t care to go into that.
“I hadn’t even thought the future. I wouldn’t necessarily rule myself out [of
politics] for the rest of my life, but I certainly don’t have plans along those
lines right now.
“The president wasย we had a wonderful conversation. I was able to finally
track him on down on Air Force One today. He’s a person who understands. He
had his own family growing up, and issues to deal with there. He’s a religious
man, he has sense of understanding, and he and I have always had a good
understanding.. He said he regretted it, but he understood it. And we spent
the rest of the conversation talking about how we wanted to have a real good
year this year and how we’ll have the opportunity to talk about a lot of things
before he and I both get out of this business.
“I feel very good about the Republican party. Obviously it was very important
to me to not disadvantage my party. We have got some very good people who I
hope will consider running for this seat. I feel real good about it. We ought
to be able to retain this seat. I’m not picking anybody for my place…it
wouldn’t do me any good if I did. I wouldn’t be presumptuous enough to suggest
who ought to be taking my place. I think we’ve got several good people who are
qualified to do that.
“One thing that’s the most
tangible I guess might be clearly resolved in the future is campaign finance
reform. That’s something I started on almost the day I got there, and it’ll be
something that hopefully will wind up here in the next few days…I simply feel
that we’ve gone away from a small dollar system, and an average person system
to the big corporations and the big unions, and the tremendously large sums of
money and it’s always just a scandal waiting to happen.
ยWell, we’ve had another scandal. And there’ll be another one after that. And
another
one after that. It hurts the system, it hurts our institution of congress, and
it creates cynicism among the American people. I think that’s about to
happen… I think the president will sign that bill. I think that will leave
that system a better system than when we found it.
“Frankly, in some ways, I’d like to serve another year or two after this one.
And I got to thinking about that possibility and all…. but it quickly became
obvious that that wasn’t the right thing to do. There’s no exit strategy as
they say in war…. and having somebody appoint a successor… and walking away
in the middle of a term…. or something like that…. it just, it was obvious
that I either needed to bite the bullet and do it now, or serve another
six-year term. And as much as I’ve appreciated the opportunity to serve, I knew
deep in my heart when I really examined it that I didn’t want to stay in
Washington another six years.
[Would he consider a run for governor] “You mean now? No. When I’m 80 years
old, maybe, I don’t know.”
(Transcript courtesy of Jeff Bossert,WKNO)