A 'Law & Order' Presidential Candidate?

"I'm giving some thought to it. Going to leave the door open," he told host Chris Wallace.

In a brief interview Tuesday on his cellphone, Thompson declined to elaborate but said he is still thinking about running. "I'm not talking about that right now," he said, directing calls about the subject to a media consultant.

His supporters -- mostly from Tennessee -- are touting his prospects every chance they get. Baker was the first to float his name. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) has launched a Draft Thompson Web site at http://www.fred08.com/.

"It is all serious business. This is no flirtation," Wamp said. "People want someone they can trust and someone that is strong. He has charisma coming out of his ears." Wamp said Thompson will spend April 18 on Capitol Hill to talk with former colleagues about his interest in the White House.

Former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), writing in his blog, has urged Thompson to run and said he recently talked to his former colleague about the idea.

"Now is the time for big ideas . . . big, true conservative ideas that rise above the fray," Frist, who decided against a White House campaign after he left the Senate, wrote last week. "Fred is listening. He will carefully consider running over the next several weeks."

For now, anyway, Thompson's supporters are apparently stuck with reruns of "Law & Order." But his fans could be disappointed on one front if he does ultimately run.

Election law requires that TV stations give all candidates equal time. Experts said Thompson -- like the last movie-star candidate, Ronald Reagan -- would probably vanish from the airwaves except in news programming. That would probably mean that he would leave "Law & Order" and that networks would not air his reruns during the campaign.

In the 1970s and 1980s, stations dropped "Bedtime for Bonzo" and other Reagan movies during his campaigns for governor of California and for president.

Washingtonpost.com staff writer Chris Cillizza and Washington Post staff writer Anne E. Kornblut contributed to this report.