Fred reaches for his campaign manager’s um, arm.

We’re only one day in, but it already looks like having Fred Thompson in the 2008 campaign is going to be fun!

In fact, Fred’s candidacy could be almost as entertaining as Katherine Harris’ 2006 run for the Florida senate. Katherine, you might recall, buzzed through staffers like so much termite-infested cord wood. In one historic day alone, four senior staff members walked out. By the end of her campaign, scores had either quit or been fired.

But Fred is already looking good for meeting or beating Katherine’s record.

Mark Corallo, a veteran of the Bush administration who had served as Thompson’s primary spokesman when the Tennessee Republican began exploring a bid earlier this year, has left the campaign, Corallo and several Thompson aides told CNN…

He is the fourth communications staffer to leave the Thompson campaign. The former Tennessee senator also replaced his campaign manager weeks before officially announcing Wednesday that he would run for the White House.

In Harris’ case, extreme bugginess was the likely cause of the turnover. Between claiming live footage from the 2000 presidential theft was doctored to make her appear more heavily made-up, or that only born-again Christians are fit to hold public office, or raiding her campaign funds for home renovations, it’s no wonder her first ex-campaign manager programmed his cell phone to play the theme from the Exorcist when Katherine called.

With Thompson, the rumored source of the turmoil is just as hard-wired into the campaign.

…Republicans are still trying to determine who is really calling the shots and how much power is held by Mrs. Thompson.

“It’s now become an open joke among people in the consultant community and political movers and shakers that the senator’s wife is really running the campaign,” said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster and strategist. “The spouse needs to be an integral part of the campaign but it is never a good thing when the spouse runs the campaign because the spouse is never objective.”

Thompson himself jokes about Jeri being in charge.

Speaking at his $1,000-a-ticket fund-raiser at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Washington Monday night, Fred Thompson began by introducing “my campaign manager — oh, I mean my wife.”

If Thompson starts claiming Democratic office-holders secretly support him over their party’s eventual candidate, it’ll feel just like Harris is back. Fun!