One longtime Thompson friend, who declined to be named while discussing the former senator’s personal life, tells NEWSWEEK that Thompson is looking into his contract obligations to “Law & Order” and talking with producers about how his run could affect the franchise. Election law requires equal air time for candidates. If enforced, the law could mean that more than 100 episodes over the past five seasons of “Law & Order” and its various spinoffs might have to be removed from the airwaves during Thompson’s run—or other candidates could demand equal air time. (But not their own show, says former Federal Election Commission official Larry Noble: no " ‘Law & Order: Straight Talk Express’ or ‘Law & Order: It Takes a Village.’ “)
Another issue: his address. Thompson and his wife, Jeri, sold their Tennessee home last year and moved to the D.C. suburbs, a closer commute to New York, where “Law & Order” is filmed. A spokesman for the Tennessee Division of Elections tells NEWSWEEK that Thompson was purged from the state’s voter rolls last November. Thompson’s son Fred Jr. told reporters his dad is currently “looking to buy a place” in his home state.
Is Thompson, who often complained about long hours in the Senate, up for the rigors of a lengthy campaign? “If he decides to do this, Fred will work as hard as anybody,” says Tennessee GOP chairman Bob Davis, a former Thompson aide. “These things don’t come around very often, and I think he knows that.”
