WASHINGTON (AP) - Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator and “Law & Order” actor, will take a step toward a formal presidential candidacy next week, several officials with knowledge of the plans said Wednesday.

Thompson will form a “testing the waters” committee, which will allow him to begin raising money and hiring staff without officially committing to a White House bid. The creation of the committee, to be called “Friends of Fred Thompson,” will be paired with the start of his first major fundraising push.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans were not public, said Thompson is discussing plans for a campaign swing through various early primary states in late June, and is considering several options for a formal announcement should he ultimately decide to enter the race. They said that one scenario under discussion, among others, would have him officially announce his candidacy over the July 4 holiday.

But these officials also cautioned that he’s made no final decision about whether to run or where and when to get in the race should he decide to go forward.

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Thompson to Take Step Toward Candidacy

Fred Thompson needs to get this announcement OUT THERE and make it official, all he has to do is say, “I want to be your president” and it’s pretty much a done deal, the Repubs are running the weakest batch of idiots I have ever seen, not a true Conservative in the bunch, multiple divorces , abortion and homo supporters, gun grabbers, a Mormon, for crying out loud, a so-called Republican that claims to be Conservative and he’s not even a Christian?? And more ‘flip-flops’ than a Jimmy Buffet concert, not a damn one of em has a stance that’s been in place longer than this election cycle…

Fred Thompson needs to get this thing going, NOW!! America needs him, Conservatives can and will support him, and by God, if we don’t, then we deserve whatever bullshit that DOES fall out of the mouths of the Repubs or Dems, because if we don’t get Thompson in the White House, it really doesn’t matter WHO you put in, there’s not a dimes worth of difference in the lot of em…

We have 3 choices folks, vote Democrat, vote Democrat Lite (Republican) or vote for Fred Thompson, and for me the choice is crystal clear!!

PARKER CO., Texas — Three girls and their 23-year-old mother were found dead Tuesday morning at a mobile home in what police called a suspected triple murder-suicide in unincorporated Parker County just north of Hudson Oaks.

The mother’s sister, who lives across the street, checked on the family at about 6:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Oak Hill Drive after the mother didn’t show up for work. The sister contacted police after she heard noises coming from a closet in the locked trailer, apparently the sounds of the infant struggling in her noose, Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said.

The sister rescued the baby and found the bodies of Gilberta Estrada, 23, and three other children, Maria Teresa, 6, Janet, 3, and Magday, 2, hanging from nooses made of sashes and strips of clothing, Fowler said.

“It’s horrendous; that’s all I can say,” he said. “It’s just something you don’t want to see.”

An 8-month-old girl, Evelyn, was found hanged but alive and was transported to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, about 25 miles east of the scene. She is listed in good condition.

Authorities believe it was a murder-suicide because the trailer’s doors were locked from the inside and a relative said Estrada had been depressed.

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Three Girls, Mother Found Dead In Parker Co. Home

I have nothing else to add here, I am beyond words, except to say, the national news services haven’t released names yet, not at the time of this posting, this story does, it’s from the NBC affiliate here in Dallas…

The U.S. Secret Service expects to borrow more than 2,000 immigration officers and federal airport screeners next year to help guard an ever-expanding field of presidential candidates, while shifting 250 of its own agents from investigations to security details.

Burdened by the White House’s wartime security needs, the persistent threat of terrorism and a field of at least 20 presidential contenders, the Secret Service was showing signs of strain even before the Department of Homeland Security ordered protection for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as of May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been assigned protection in an election season.

OK, we’re going to sacrifice national security so we can properly guard ALL the candidates and then a story like this, Private Guards Weak Link in Security pops up on the screen…

Why don’t we just let the MSM take over and tell our enemies our every weakness?? It might shorten the flash to bang time before this whole thing implodes on us, kinda of just go ahead and let them put us out of their misery, so to speak…

Its $110 million-plus budget for campaign protection — two-thirds more than the record $65 million it spent for the 2004 election — was prepared when the service did not expect to be guarding Obama or anyone else until January. The agency has already been forced to scale back its efforts to battle counterfeiting and cybercrime.

What the hell, counterfeiting and cybercrime are just no big deal next to keeping some windbag politician that has no chance of winning anything happy now is it?? We can waste BILLIONS in Iraq, what’s $110 million in the grand scheme of things, right??

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has doubled the number of officials granted Secret Service protection, from 26 to 54, including top White House aides such as the chief of staff and national and homeland security advisers.

And I can’t disagree with that, some folks NEED Secret Service protection, the title of their very job description gives all the explanation needed…

As recently as the beginning of Bill Clinton’s administration in 1993, no White House aides had such security details, although coverage had been extended before and was given later to national security advisers Brent Scowcroft, Anthony Lake and Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger, said former Clinton and Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard A. Clarke.

I guess Sandy Burglar didn’t have his Secret Service detail on him the times he stuffed his pants with papers… Just sayin’…

Personally, I feel that once the nominating conventions have been held and the official candidates that will RUN for POTUS and VPOTUS have been selected, you betcha, put protection all over them, but until that time, what have they done to deserve this kind of special protection??

And to already have Secret Service protection on the likes of Osama, uh, I meant Obama, well, that’s just ridiculous, let him fend for himself a while…

Our tax dollars could be spent much better protecting this NATION and not it’s politicians, and to sacrifice that protection for their sake is NOT something I can support…

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WP: New strain on Secret Service