He'd been threatening to make a run for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, but this week Fred Thompson decided to forsake the muddy trenches of politics for Acting.

Because do you know how much the chair of the RNC earns? Not half as much as that Lauren Conrad* gal…

"He called me yesterday and said [the chairmanship] is not in the cards," said Nashville businessman B.C. "Scooter" Clippard, a close Thompson associate who headed fundraising for Thompson's presidential campaign. Clippard said Thompson chose to remain in the private sector, working to resume his television acting career.

"He said he had spent the last two years of his life trying to be president and helping John McCain be president and during that time, he didn't have much income. He has a family" and needs to earn an income, Clippard said.

Gee, I had no idea Fred Thompson was so hard up for cash.

If only he'd played a major role on a popular hour-long drama that airs in reruns every hour of every day, in every corner of the developed world. He could've earned mad residuals on something like that.

* Don't even pretend like she's not acting.