Thompson joins race to the White House

US actor Fred Thompson officially entered a wide-open Republican presidential race today, vowing to invigorate a dispirited Republican Party and promising to thwart another Clinton from capturing the presidency.

The former senator harkened to the Republican glory days of 1994 when he and other Republicans seized control of Congress and established an equal counterpoint to Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House. In the 2008 campaign, former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the leading Democratic candidates.