Fred Thompson has received his first newspaper endorsement

Have any other papers endorsed a candidate yet? Thompson may be the first candidate of this primary to receive an endorsement.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson has not yet said if he is a presidential candidate, but a Chattanooga editorial page has joined a "draft Fred" movement with an endorsement of the actor and attorney 19 months before the election.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has two separate opinion pages, and the traditionally conservative side under the masthead of the Chattanooga Free Press published the endorsement editorial Monday, saying Thompson "has not declined" growing encouragement for him to seek the presidency.

"It is significant that while there are many actively seeking the presidency of the United States, there is one outstanding individual who is not -- but is being sought because he has demonstrated many unique qualities of sound principle, possesses wisdom gained from proved experience, has admirable qualities of character and has displayed a cooperative spirit of good will that could inspire a great majority of Americans to unify enthusiastically to elect him," the editorial said.

They want Thompson and they don't care that he's not in the race. If this keeps up, Thompson will be forced to enter the race just to keep us from electing him whether he runs or not.

Tags: Fred Thompson, presidential candidate, election, Republican, primary, politics