Last time Fred Thompson weighed in on Terri Schiavo in Florida, he suggested he didn't know much about the case. His account changed a bit today: ""As far as Schiavo is concerned obviously I knew about the Schiavo case. I had to face a situation like that in my own personal life with my own daughter. I know it is bandied about as a political issue and people want to … talk about in the public marketplace. 

“I am a little bit uncomfortable because this is an intensely personal thing for me. These things need to be decided by the family. I was at that bedside and I had to make those decisions with the rest of my family, and I will assure you one thing -- no matter which decision you make you’ll never know whether you made exactly the right decision.

---John Frank

“So making this into a political football is something I don't welcome. And this will probably be the last time I ever address it.

"It is something that should be decided by the family. The federal government, and the state government too, except for the court system, ought to stay out of those matters as far as I'm concerned."

The response was unusual. Thompson rarely talks about his daughter on the campaign trail. She died in 2002 at age 38 from an accidental prescription drug overdose.