Goodbye, Fred…
January 22, 2008
Okay, so the announcement hasn’t come, but it has all but come:
He’s down to single digits in Florida, he’s not campaigning and won’t be at the debate, and his website isn’t running any big front-page fundraising pitches despite having barely had enough money to air one last commercial in South Carolina.
On top of that, we got a call last night from a Fred staffer who’d just boarded the Romney bus. Seems its time for Fred’s team to start picking their poison from the rest of the field.
Its sad. Its like it never really got started. Mostly because it never really did. He certainly won’t endorse, since everyone would hate him for endorsing McCain, but the fact that some staffers are paddling the life rafts to the inexhaustible money in the Good Ship Romney leads us to believe that perhaps many of his voters will migrate there as well, thus ensuring a speedy Huckabee demise. That means, of course that, if Thompson had the ability to stay in even temporarily (no commercials, no debates, just presence and a name on the ballot), and he wanted to support McCain, staying in to pull votes away from Romney would have been the thing to do. If he endorses anyone, it’ll be Sam Waterson.
As for the speedy Huckabee demise — word on the street (from his campaign, so its not like its secret) is that he’s out of cash and can’t finish Florida, so what little he has will be spread over the South in the hopes of picking up a state or two on Super Duper Tuesday, keeping him in the race through February, or until someone finally realizes you could run Kucinich against him and Dennis would win by a landslide. In states where they don’t have UFO sightings.
UPDATE:
Its official:
McLean, VA - Senator Fred Thompson today issued the following statement about his campaign for President:
“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”
Bummer.
Posted in Uncategorized
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
*sigh* I like Fred. I really wish he gained traction. It just seemed like he waited until after the excitement of his possible running died out, and then never really got on pace until too late.
It’s a good move not to endorse someone, as that would give that person instant conservative cred. And since the rest of the candidates are lacking in that area, it might have some weight. But then again, to FredHeads, they would lose respect for him.
That said, I think that Romney will pick up the biggest chunk of Thompson supporters, and the other three (or four) will pick up the rest equally.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
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January 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 am
[...] Huckabee was interviewed on MSNBC on the day Fred Thompson withdrew. The liberation theologist took the opportunity to further ridicule and attack Fred and his supporters for supposedly injuring his campaign in South Carolina. Smart move Huck, really should endear you even further to Fred Thompson people who are now looking for a new candidate. I’m eagerly awaiting the bankrupt and collapsing Huckabee campaign’s political annihilation on Super Tuesday. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2F%3Fp%3D2227′; addthis_title = ‘The+Peevish+Pastor’; addthis_pub = ”; Sphere: Related Content [...]
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
That would explain why Huckabee has a “Dear Thompson and Hunter supporters, please vote for me now” message plastered on his Web site. Grasping for straws.
I didn’t realize that Huckabee was this low on funding, though. Oops.