Thompson Taps Former Senate Campaign Manager

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Fred Thompson has tapped the man who engineered his 1994 Senate win to take over his likely presidential campaign, aides said Wednesday. <br/><br/>Bill Lacy, a former strategist for Ronald

Wednesday, August 8th 2007, 9:52 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Fred Thompson has tapped the man who engineered his 1994 Senate win to take over his likely presidential campaign, aides said Wednesday.

Bill Lacy, a former strategist for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and the Republican National Committee, confirmed in an interview that he is taking over day-to-day operations of the former Tennessee senator's committee to ``test the waters'' of a presidential bid.

``I'm here for the long haul,'' Lacy said from the committee's headquarters in a Virginia suburb. He said he has taken a leave of absence from his current post as the director of the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.

Thompson is expected to officially enter the race Labor Day week.

Over the past few weeks, the all-but-declared candidate sidelined his campaign-manager-in-waiting and watched a few other aides follow him out the door amid consternation inside the operation about the active role of Thompson's wife, Jeri.

At the time, aides said former senator and energy secretary Spencer Abraham and a Florida GOP strategist, Randy Enwright, would take over the campaign. But that turned out to be temporary as the Thompsons sought a replacement for Tom Collamore, who still is advising Thompson.

Lacy's relationship with Thompson dates to fall of 1993 when Thompson approached him to take over his then-sluggish campaign in a special election to replace Al Gore, who was assuming the vice presidency. Thompson came from behind to win the election, and went on to serve eight years in the Senate.

Lacy said he sees parallels between this presidential race and the Senate bid, including the likely candidate starting out having raised little money. ``It was a very similar situation in 1994. Actually, it was a much worse situation in 1994,'' Lacy said.