Campaign Notebook: Enter Arthur Branch

Only days away from former lobbyist, Senator and TV star Fred Thompson’s entry into the Republican presidential field, what’s the situation?

A muddled one for the Republicans, and an interesting one for the Democrats.

The Republican field has played Musical Frontrunners for months now — first with John McCain taking the lead and falling to the second tier after two disappointing quarters of fundraising and a staff exodus, then Mitt Romney for a while, then Rudy Giuliani.  The less-and-less dark horse has been former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who has impressed in debates but has not shown much in the way of fundraising ability.

So is there an opening for Thompson?  Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza says there’s some question as to whether it’s too late for Thompson’s grand entry into the field. 

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, major labor unions have been getting into the endorsement game.  Last week the United Transportation Union endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, while the United Steelworkers and United Mine Workers backed former Sen. John Edwards on Monday.  The International Association of Firefighters, a key source of support for John Kerry in 2004, has backed Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, an interesting move for the union but a big win for Dodd (Oh, the IAFF hates Rudy Giuliani, too.

Noticeably absent from the list of labor-endorsed candidates is Sen. Barack Obama, whose rock-star fundraising ability and message of hope and change may not require the support of traditional Democratic base groups — if his campaign can successfully organize for a national primary on February 5th.

Efforts to contact the major campaigns for more information on their Tsunami Tuesday efforts in Minnesota have been unsuccessful to date — but watch for more information soon (I hope).