BLOOMINGTON - State Sen. Bill Brady has been named chairman of the Illinois campaign of Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, making the latest in a long line of Central Illinois connections to presidential campaigns.

"The groundswell of support that we are seeing among Illinois Republicans makes me very excited to be a part of this organization," the Bloomington Republican said.

Brady, praised Thompson, a lawyer and former Tennessee senator, as "a very humble person and sincere." Most people know him as an actor in movies and on NBC's "Law and Order," but Brady said he doubts that will hurt him.

"People are comfortable with and trust him," he said.

He joins a handful of local people who already are tied to presidential campaigns.

On the Republican side, state Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, is campaign director for Republican candidate Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

On the Democratic side, Patsy Bowles, of Bloomington, is a high school friend of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. Dave Dorris, a Bloomington lawyer, has hosted fundraisers for Democratic candidate John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina. Stephen Brokaw, a graduate of University High School, is a senior campaign staff member in Nevada for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Such a heavy local presence strikes Jim Simeone, associate professor of political science at Illinois Wesleyan University, as rare. The fact that it's weighted on the Democratic side is especially unusual because of McLean County's Republican leanings, he said.

It doesn't mean, however, that McLean County will get special treatment if Clinton, for instance, is elected.

"I don't think she'd show favoritism but I think she might be aware of more about our community because I've told her," Bowles said.

Dorris, likewise, said Edwards knows more about McLean County because of their friendship.

Such local connections can't hurt, observed Gary Klass, associate professor of politics and government at Illinois State University.

Bowles and Clinton attended the same high school in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge and remain close friends.

Dorris met Edwards, a fellow lawyer, through a legal conference.

"Once you've met him you feel like you've known him forever," said Dorris, adding the 2004 vice presidential nominee has been to the Dorris home up to 10 times.

Dorris' wife, Leigh Anne, and Bowles both are planning to run in the Feb. 5 primary as delegates to the Democratic National Convention for their respective candidates.

While Bowles and Dorris extol the human side of their friends, Rutherford wants it known that Romney has that personal touch as well.

"It's a real comfortable experience being around him. He's not pretentious," Rutherford said. "He (Romney) greets everybody, whether the cameras or on or not."