Fred Thompson’s opening shot in launching his campaign on the Jay Leno show was impressive, but now he has to forget the sound bites and the folksy advice and get down to brass tacks.

To begin with, he has to give the voters in the primary states a good reason to pick him over all the other Republican candidates. He has to tell them not only where he stands on the issues, but also what he plans to do about them.

It’s not enough to say he wants a better America – after all, everybody wants that. He has to spell out how he plans to get there.

What is he going to do to give us the smaller government candidates keep promising but never seem to provide?

What is he going to do to win the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism?

How does he plan to create a fairer income tax system that rewards hard work rather than punishes it?

He needs to answer those questions and be very specific in his answers.

The voters won’t want to know how he feels about issues – they can get all that touchy-feely stuff from the Democrats – they want to know exactly what he plans to do about them, and how he plans to do it.

He has to explain how he plans to deal with Capitol Hill, where the Democrats control both houses of Congress and aren’t exactly enthusiastic about the Republican way of doing things.

For that matter, what would he do while running for the presidency to help his party regain control of the Congress in the 2008 elections if he’s at the top of the ticket? While the media consider that impossible, the utter failure of the Democrats in Congress to do anything worthwhile gives the GOP a fighting chance.

In other words, what would he do to provide the coattails that could carry Congressional candidates into Washington with him? Continued...