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Washington Prowler

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In the 1990s Thompson was part of the high-profile gubernatorial brain trust -- along with governors John Engler and George Pataki -- that was viewed as the future of the Republican Party, until W came along.

Engler has never expressed a desire to get back into politics, Pataki has apparently abandoned hopes for a presidential run, so now it's Thompson. But he has some issues to deal with, among them a couple of ethical scrapes. Most recently, investigators from the General Accounting Office determined that Thompson violated federal law by using $9.5 million in Health and Humans Services funds -- in other words, tax payer dollars -- to promote changes to Medicare. The GAO determined that some of those changes would have benefited companies that Thompson has a financial stake in. One of the companies was VeriChip, which is marketing an implantable microchip that would contain data that would help healthcare facilities quickly assist patients with proper treatment.

As well, Thompson oversaw the Medicare overhaul plan, which turned out to cost $150 billion more than expected. The GAO found that Thompson aides worked behind the scenes to hide the true cost of the reforms.

topics:
Bill Clinton, Abortion, Constitution, Law, NATO, Medicare