Former Wisconsin Governor and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson is making moves indicating that he intends to run for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Tommy Thompson, a former Health and Human Services Secretary under President George W. Bush, said on Wednesday he would form a committee early next year to explore a possible 2008 White House bid.
Thompson said his experience as a former Wisconsin governor and as health secretary during Bush’s first presidential term would be valuable assets in what promises to be a crowded 2008 White House race.
“I will be forming an exploratory committee for president after the first of the year, and then I will be spending time in Iowa and other states across the country,” Thompson said in an interview.
“I believe the top issues for the presidential election are going to be energy and health care, and I think I have some of the best ideas in the country on both of them,” he said by phone from Iowa, which holds the traditional opening contest in the presidential nominating race.
Thompson, in Iowa for an event marking the opening of enrollment for Medicare’s prescription drug coverage, said he wanted to transform the health care system from its emphasis on treating disease to a focus on prevention and wellness.
He also said he would support new alternative energy sources led by ethanol development, the corn-based fuel additive that is highly popular in the farming state of Iowa.
“I’m in an enviable position because I’m an expert in most of those fields and can articulate a vision for America that is lacking right now,” Thompson said.
Let me guess, much of this vision will involve subsidies for corn farmers and increased government intervention in the health care market.
