Fred Thompson has been awful quiet since his third-place showing in South Carolina. After saying he was shooting for first place and needed a strong showing, finishing with less than half the votes of first-place finisher John McCain is a serious dent.
And it comes after Thompson finally put his best effort forward, dominating the pre-South Carolina primary debate, spending 10 days on a continuous bus tour of the state and finally crystalizing his argument: he was in a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.
The problem, it turns out, was Mike Huckabee. They fought for the same voters and Huckabee's head start, religious appeal and magical campaigning abilities were too much for Thompson to overcome so late in the process.
Now, Thompson has a couple of options:
He is not putting any effort into Florida, which votes next week, but could keep in the race through the Feb. 5 states to see if he can pick off some of them. If the nomination does go to a brokered convention, Thompson could become an attractive option as a consensus candidate. For that matter, he could "suspend" his campaign, which could also leave him viable for a convention pick.
But most pundits expect he will drop out, and soon, and the conventional wisdom is that he endorses McCain. There are plenty of political observers who think the only reason Thompson is in this campaign right now is to keep votes away from Huckabee, thereby helping McCain.
That endorsement may happen, but there are plenty of signs it won't, also. Thompson has attacked Huckabee relentlessly, but he has not been silent on McCain, particularly on the issue of immigration. It would be quite a shift to pick him, particularly when Mitt Romney — at least with his present stance on issues — more closely matches Thompson.
— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (5)
I'd be shocked to see Thompson endorse McCain. That's been a longstanding smear that anti-Thompson activists have used to try to keep down his support in the primaries: that he was just in the race to help McCain and that's why he wasn't bashing McCain. Why they've been saying this since Iowa. For the reasons mentioned in this blog, I don't see Fred throwing in with McCain. And if he does make this mistake, Fred's supporters certainly aren't going to be swayed by the endorsement. All it will do is lead Fred's supporters to doubt whether his good sense and political convictions.
Posted by D. | January 22, 2008 12:01 PM
I think chances are that Thompson will endorse Romney with who he is more politically aligned. It would not surprise me to se a Romney/Thompson ticket. That would satisfy the needs of the social and fiscal conservatives and probably the domestic/foreign policy wing of the party.
The VP always takes a back seat to the president. Who better to do that than Thompson. He seems comfortable in a job that doesn't expect too much from him anyway.
Posted by beb | January 22, 2008 12:54 PM
I'd say Thompson's supporters mostly go to Romney. I don't think Fred needs to endorse anybody. His voters know who's the closest to a conservative left in the race.
Posted by J. | January 22, 2008 5:47 PM
Values voters, PLEASE don't sit idly by. Support Mike Huckabee. Let your voice be heard!
Posted by Michael Litz | January 22, 2008 8:56 PM
I'm sorry to see Fred go. Maybe he will come back as VP nominee.
Posted by SB | January 23, 2008 5:15 AM