Ready... Aim... Whatever

Fred Thompson still doesn’t seem quite ready to pull the trigger on his campaign:

In his second week as an officially declared candidate for the Republican nomination, Mr. Thompson has made a languid three-day swing through Florida ending Saturday with the candidate watching a football game in Gainesville. The pace has kept him on a jumbo air-conditioned bus far more often than he is actually campaigning.

Since Thursday morning, when the tour began, Mr. Thompson has made no more than three campaign stops a day, with long stretches in between. In recent spins through Iowa, he kept a similarly relaxed schedule. Mitt Romney, by comparison, often does six town-hall-style forums a day when in Iowa.

A spokesman for Mr. Thompson said the driving distances in Florida were a factor, and that he would add more impromptu stops later in the campaign.

Next week, his schedule has no public events at all, limiting his appearances to fund-raisers in Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

When, at long last, Thompson announced his candidacy, I didn’t think that was all he’d do.