Thompson to formally enter race on Sept. 6

WASHINGTON — Actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson confirmed Thursday that he will run for president, ending a flirtation he has been conducting since March and thrusting himself into the battle for the Republican nomination.

In a conference call with elected officials and party leaders backing his bid, Thompson campaign manager Bill Lacy said Thompson had finished "testing the waters" and will file papers making his candidacy official next Thursday.

Thompson will announce Sept. 6 via a webcast, with the campaign encouraging supporters nationwide to attend house parties that day as the former Tennessee senator begins a trek through the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp, who launched an effort to draft Thompson into the race earlier this year, predicted Thompson would quickly become the candidate to beat.

"Fred has been working out with a personal trainer. There's a saying in the South that a lean dog hunts best," Wamp said after the call, one of several the campaign conducted Thursday.

Thompson's entry sets up a three-way battle for the title of GOP front-runner, according to polls, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Three candidates get big union nods

WASHINGTON — The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers on Thursday endorsed Democrat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Republican Mike Huckabee in the presidential primaries, while John Edwards picked up the carpenters union's backing.

Edwards' courting of labor paid off with his first national union endorsement, from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Of the union's 530,000 members, one-third say they are registered Republicans.

The machinists union has 700,000 members and estimates a third of the membership votes Republican.

Michigan moving primary to Jan. 15

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Legislature on Thursday approved moving the state's presidential-nomination contests to Jan. 15, days after national Democrats vowed to punish states that vote too early.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign the bill. Michigan Democrats risk losing all their national-convention delegates, while Republicans risk losing half.

Democratic Party rules say states can't hold primaries before Feb. 5, except for Iowa (Jan. 14), Nevada (Jan. 19), New Hampshire (Jan. 22) and South Carolina (Jan. 29).

Michigan's vote comes less than a week after Wyoming Republicans decided to push their caucuses to Jan. 5.

Seattle Times news services