Jan 22 2008
Fred Thompson To Drop Out – But Who Does He Endorse?
Major Mea Culpa Update:: Well, it’s not really my mistake since I was just reading news reports, but it seems the real reason Fred went silent is because his mother is ill. My prayers to Fred and his mother and I hope to see him back in the hunt here soon. H/T reader Merlin.– end update
Fred Thompson appears to be ready to end his bid for President sometime today.
As the men competing for the GOP nomination head back to Florida before the state’s primary on Jan. 29, it appears that Thompson will not be going with them. After he finished well behind in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, there were indications that Thompson could drop out as early as today. His campaign has yet to announce a schedule of Florida campaign stops.
Fox News last night mentioned he had pulled out of the FL debate. The silence and delay can only mean one thing: he plans to throw his support behind someone else to give them a boost over the top. It could be anyone of the other three – McCain, Romney, Giuliani. I still see McCain as the most liberal of the bunch when you score him across the issues, noting that he puts a lot of energy into liberal ideas and causes. But I think Thompson supporters are in for a shock. DC power players are a elite club and they stick together. Thompson has show weakness to the conservative cause when he aligns with McCain – no coincidence there.
If Thompson comes out and endorses McCain I hope his voters understand that, while he has been promoting the ‘image’ of a deep conservative, he is still a creature of Hollywood who tends to some anti-conservative tendencies. I suspect Thompson is going to endorse McCain, his old Senate buddy. I hope he proves me wrong and endorses Romney or Giuliani.
AJ
http://race42008.com/2008/01/21/fred-thompson-news/
Fred Thompson News
Fred’s mother is ill and her condition has deteriorated today. I ask that everyone and the candidates give the family space to make their own decisions about the process, and respect whatever his wishes may be.
UPDATE at 9:00 pm: To clear up some rumors floating around, just got word from the campaign:
1. Thompson has not pulled out of Florida’s debate Thursday night yet. Fox News is wrong in their reporting yet again, at this stage.
2. Yes, she has been ill for a while, but has improved since earlier today.
by Tommy Oliver @ 8:46 pm. Filed under Fred Thompson
AJ
I have been in discussion on a lot of other places for the primary season, I will repeat one thing here I wish all would listen to.
This compressed front loaded primary season is going to amplify the effect of rumors and even worse dirty tricks.
There will be less time to put together a counter argument to respond to false issues if they occur.
The more drastic the news appears the larger the salt shaker needed due to this compression.
Double source every thing you can…I single sourced this one , but it counters a single source.
Care will definitely be the watchword between Fla and Super Tuesday there will be way to much temptation for some to put the spin in…and is going to be the least likely time for the MSM to check before they say heck.
The sad thing about the state of the race is that I’m only wondering who was pushing the drop-out story – Romney’s people, Rudy’s people, or Huckabee’s people?
Problem for Thompson is that the reason he’s not in Florida doesn’t really matter, even though it’s personally tragic for him. Fact is he isn’t there during the most crucial time period – meaning he’s not organizing and energizing supporters, meaning he finishes a distant 4th at best. What’s the point of staying in? I wished he had done better but it isn’t happening.
I also predict – based on his lackluster campaigning so far – that he doesn’t endorse anyone when he drops out, other than a generic “I’ll support the eventual nominee.” He never will have any impact on this race.
Poor Fred, you coulda been a contendah.
Merlin,
I am a blogger not a journalist. I don’t have sources! Anyway, WWS is right. The reason is irrelevant, the result is the same to some degree.
True AJ
But as a matter of todays issues, I am giving more credibility to the concept that Huck may be the one closest to withdrawal.
Fred has pulled in much more money than him. Huck was down to less than 600k before Iowa and several blogs are saying (RUMOR WARNING) that insiders are talking of pulling out of the FL race to work on Super Tuesday if things are looking bad for him here.
If that is true, Fred would probably be the biggest benefactor of conservative voters from the Huck camp with Mitt picking up a bunch also.
Stories are flipping around all over the web right now.
Mac Ranger seems to have a second source saying Fred might withdraw.
Nothing official released yet that I can see either confirming or denying.