Finally, we hear from Fred D. Thompson. The former Tennessee senator, current “Law & Order” district attorney and possibly future Republican presidential candidate, spoke to the Lincoln Club of Orange County, Calif., the group that launched Ronald Reagan’s career. The Los Angeles Times has his thoughts on Iraq:
“I don’t think it’s any question that if we leave Iraq before there is some semblance of stability brought about in that nation … that the world is going to be a more dangerous place,” Thompson said, adding that “as long as those brave people on the front lines who are making our sacrifices for us … say that they have a chance, we need to give them that opportunity to make that work there.”
Mr. Thompson also warned of “an area of the world that becomes more and more nuclear” if the United States leaves Iraq too early, because such a scenario would increase the likelihood of Iran and other countries in the region acquiring nuclear weapons, reports The Times’s Marc Santora.
Was Charles Darwin a Republican? It’s a discussion taking place among conservative political theorists and practicing politicians. Evolution was a short but attention-grabbing part of Thursday night’s G.O.P. debate, and The Times’s Katharine Q. Seelye sees it as one of several issues candidates used to play to the right wing base.
David Broder at The Washington Post takes a similar look, focusing on the interplay of religion and politics at the debate. The Associated Press looks at the religion issue as it specifically applies to Mitt Romney, a Latter-day Saint scheduled to speak at the Rev. Pat Robertson’s university today. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is also delivering a commencement address at Wilberforce University in Columbus, and Rudolph W. Giuliani will send off Citadel graduates in Charleston, S.C.
Jeff Zeleny looks at how all the competing proposals by Democratic candidates are complicating congressional Democrats’ efforts to reach a compromise with President Bush on a war spending bill.
More fodder for Google conspiracy theorists: holding a town hall meeting with Google employees is on the way to becoming a new required ritual on the campaign trail. As Scott Lindlaw of The Associated Press puts it, “The Google Interview could become the 21st-century equivalent of the candidate’s pilgrimage to the General Motors plant.”
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