Fred Thompson quits White House race

The actor Fred Thompson, who has enjoyed playing the President of the United States on screen (in the 2005 film, Last Best Chance), has decided that trying to do it for real is too much like hard work. Thompson, star of the long-running TV series Law and Order, has thrown in the towel and withdrawn from the Republican race for presidential candidate after a string of mediocre finishes in early primaries.

"I have withdrawn my candidacy... I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," he said in a short statement. The decision follows the Republican primary in South Carolina, a state which he had said he needed to win, but where, in the event, he came only third.

Thompson's departure came as little surprise to those observers who have continually questioned his commitment, and accused him of running a 'lazy' campaign. Conservative pundit George Will suggested Thompson was "less than a martyr to the work ethic", while Newsweek chose the cover line: 'Lazy Like a Fox'. He has also come in for some stick about his buxom blonde wife Jeri, 25 years his junior. (Continued below)

Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals - nor what his next screen role might be. Back in Hollywood, he has not fared well in the important matter of raising funds. Even the few film industry types who admit to being conservative were said to find his politics too right-wing.