Fred Thompson‘s campaign is set to announce today that former Virginia senator George Allen, former Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham, and former State Department official Elizabeth Cheney will serve as the three national co-chairs of Thompson’s presidential effort. Howard Baker, the former Tennessee senator and Thompson’s longtime political mentor, will serve as chairman. Allen, who lost reelection last year to Democrat Jim Webb, remains popular among the Republican party’s conservative base. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, after having served as governor of Virginia. He and Thompson got to know each other during their service together from early 2001 until early 2003. Privately, Allen has told associates that he supports Thompson because he believes Thompson is the one conservative who can win next fall. Before his defeat last year, Allen was considered a likely candidate for the Republican nomination and someone who could excite conservatives. The tobacco-chewing son of a former Washington Redskins coach, Allen will be an asset in a region where Thompson is already strong: the South. Abraham, who served as secretary of energy under George W. Bush, was one of the first people to call Thompson to encourage him to run. The two men spoke last December, shortly after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he would not be running. Abraham has been one of Thompson’s closest advisers ever since. Cheney, the older of Vice President Dick Cheney’s two daughters, served most recently as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives. That title – no doubt one of the longest in the federal government – means Cheney was on the leading edge of President Bush’s effort to bring democratic and market-based reform to the Middle East. A longtime democracy advocate, Cheney was a strong proponent of women’s rights in the region. Her previous experience includes time at the World Bank, two prior stints at the State Department, and service as a USAID officer in Poland and Hungary.
