Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's surge into frontrunner terroritory continued this week as he pulled ahead of Rudolph W. Giuliani with 27 percent support among Republicans, compared to 23 percent for the former New York mayor, according to a new Rasmussen Poll.
Mr. Guiliani had led the pack of nomination hopefuls for the past five months before the deck shuffled two weeks ago.
Mr. Thompson's sudden rise to the top coincided with Arizona Sen. John McCain's falling out of favor with Republican voters, down from 18 percent in mid-May to 11 percent this week.
Not only has Mr. McCain lost support among primary voters, but he also fell 10 points in his matchup against Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, according to a Rasmussen Poll released yesterday.
Rumors circulated Sunday that Mr. McCain was dropping out of the race, but he and others have strongly refuted these claims.
He said if you believe he's dropping out of the race "you must be smoking something stronger than what is legal" in the following video. (*Hat tip to Drudge for pointing this one out.)
Nationally syndicated columnist Michael Barone, a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report with years of experience watching politics, wrote yesterday:
"Why is the Republican primary electorate so fluid? One reason is that none of the candidates matches, or has matched until very recently, the issue preferences of the conservative Republican base. That's why Thompson, who seems a closer match, has moved up rapidly, to the point he led Giuliani by 1 percent in the most recent Rasmussen poll."
The announcement buzz surrounds Mr. Thompson's campaign, with some expecting him to announce as early as Tuesday.
With all the activity in other Republican campaigns this week, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's support has remained steady at 12 percent, a mark which he's hovered around for the past three weeks.
Since he hasn't gotten a lot of attention recently, this fishwrapper went searching for all things Mitt Romney and found this. Enjoy!
-- Brandon Leonard, intern, The Washington Times
