Regardless of the outcome of today's primary, Fred Thompson says that he's going on to Florida.

Why not? Unless he seriously underperforms the polls tonight, he's still got a significant amount of support, given that the winner is unlikely to even get a third of the vote. When people drop out for various reasons, their votes have to go somewhere. Where will Huckabee's voters go? Where will McCain's, if the only reason to vote for him is his Vietnam record and the war and they ignore his other positions? Not Huck. Probably not Romney. Though Rudy is a possibility. I don't think that this race will be anywhere close to settled this weekend.

There are a lot of people who will continue to send money to Fred as long as they think he has a chance. And there's still a non-zero possibility that this thing could go all the way to Minneapolis with no clear winner, which means that in a brokered convention, Thompson could have an edge. If this is true, and he remains in, I might even put up a Thompson sign on my lawn in Boca Raton.

Are you voting for Thompson in the primary?

Are you voting for Thompson in the primary?

If he's still on the ballot by Texas early voting, yes.

I wonder if Rush will have a monologue on Monday about Fred?

It's pathetic how dependent some of you are on Rush Limbaugh.

Not 1/1000000 as pathetic as someone too dog turd lazy to cough up a nom de plume for posting purposes.

Not meaning to detract from the subject of Fred Thompson, but are you going to comment any time soon on the reports that the Ares 1 won't work?

Phil,

Scroll down to "Boy, does this need a follow up"

Don't you know Fred is going to withdraw? Media types say so at every primary, so it must be getting more true all the time.

That's right no name, those of us who have supported Thompson from the beginning now feel confident of our decision because Rush Limbaugh got on board this week.

Boob.

My thought exactly, Steve.

Now that Fred has pulled out a third, I think it's a good time to donate again to let him know he needs to stay with it to the convention.

Frankly, I think you guys need to find a new charity. Save the Sleepy for example. Seriously, 63% of the GOP voted against talk radio. I would consider that a rebellion, yes?

McCain is the only Republican who can beat the slimy pair running for joint office. I think you should reconsider your opposition to this great American. I of course oppose his views on the war on terror, but I see integrity and honesty in the man.

If it come down to McCain vs. Slime, I'll be casting my first vote for a Republican.

If it come down to McCain vs. Slime, I'll be casting my first vote for a Republican.

That'll be a neat trick, since if it comes down to McCain vs. Slime there won't be a Republican on the ballot to vote for.

It's disappointing how many people put such incredible importance on early primary results. Anyone remember Tom Harkin or Paul Tsongas? They were very strong front runners in the 1992 Democratic primaries.

It may end up being a brokered convention.
Every one is talking about Thompson, but Rudy
has placed behind everyone including Paul.

Paul placed 2nd in Nevada and not a peep from the MSM.

Paul placed 2nd in Nevada and not a peep from the MSM.

Because he truly has no chance whatsoever of getting the Republican nomination. It's easy to come in second in a caucus, when what's most important is either organization and money (Romney) or organization and fanatically devoted supporters (Paul). That doesn't mean that he can get a significant amount of votes in a primary.

Because he truly has no chance whatsoever of getting the Republican nomination.

It's true that Ron Paul has almost no chance of getting the nomination. But he's also done better than Fred Thompson so far. More money and more votes, and not just in the caucuses. Fox News even excluded Paul from a late debate in New Hampshire, and he still clobbered Thompson.

I think you should reconsider your opposition to this great American. I of course oppose his views on the war on terror, but I see integrity and honesty in the man.

I agree that John McCain is more honest and intelligent than a lot of politicians out there. But you shouldn't discount that he has lied a lot about the Iraq war. He explained how impressed he was with this market in Baghdad, which turned out to be a Potemkin spectacle. He has to lie about Iraq in order to get the Republican nomination.

It's true that Ron Paul has almost no chance of getting the nomination. But he's also done better than Fred Thompson so far.

Irrelevant. Don't quit your day job to become a political analyst.

Thompson still has a better chance of getting the nomination than Paul, as long as he stays in the race. Thompson's problem is one of self-fulfilling prophecies--there are a sufficient number of people who would like to support him if they thought he could win, to give him a victory if they actually supported did so. That's not the case for Paul. He has a small number of fanatically dedicated supporters, but that's the ceiling of his support--he has no more potential than that.

I guess the entire country's a Potemkin village, as that particular market was one of the first beneficiaries of the surge. I know you're better
off posting with the coffee/clatch of anti-Semitic, quasi 9/11 denialists at Yglesias & co; but like Tano. Semanticleo, Tony Foresta & Data
Dave you're destined to haunt us here. How does
one get by posting without an kind of identifier
tag

Matt Yglesias is Jewish.

So I guess he is a Jewish anti-semite.

Jewish self-hatred has existed for a long time.

Thompson still has a better chance of getting the nomination than Paul, as long as he stays in the race.

Maybe, but you're still comparing the longevity of two snowballs in hell.

Since I remarked before that Limbaugh's endorsement of Thompson will help discredit Limbaugh, here's why. A big part of Limbaugh's world view is that people should be kicked when they're down. Since he has instilled that message, his base will have trouble understanding why Limbaugh himself should endorse a loser like Fred Thompson. Thompson isn't even going to come in second in states that he would have to win to get the nomination. Third place is winning for him --- that's his "surge".

Limbaugh is not going to have a good explanation for that. The story that fans are waiting in the wings for signs of Thompson's electability is far-fetched. A slightly better explanation is that a lot of Thompson's supporters don't have the energy to go to the polls, just like he doesn't have the energy to campaign. But that's not really it either. Thompson is losing because he won't do the work to win, and because he's boring.

And as I have remarked before, Jim Harris, don't give up your day job to become a political consultant. At least not one who people won't laugh at.

> A big part of Limbaugh's world view is that people should be kicked when they're down.

Harris is projecting again.

Has he yet posted something that wasn't based on a couple of falsehoods woven together with bogus reasoning?

Not even once Andy, not that I recall.

Jim Harris:
"It's true that Ron Paul has almost no chance of getting the nomination. But he's also done better than Fred Thompson so far. More money and more votes, and not just in the caucuses. Fox News even excluded Paul from a late debate in New Hampshire, and he still clobbered Thompson."

More money, yes. Having fanatically devoted supporters will do that for a campaign. But Paul has 106,000ish votes so far and Thompson has 122,000ish votes. As for beating Thompson in NH, that's because Thompson ignored NH entirely. Also, Paul's results are consistent with the theory that he has the support of a fanatical fifth column, which means he isn't going to get any more votes than what he's got now. Paul's chances of getting the nomination are not "almost" zero, they ARE zero because the odds of everybody but him dropping out of the race are less than a Planck.

Yeah, you're right Math_Mage; I miscounted. Thompson's stand in South Carolina is a little better than Paul's stand in Michigan.

Well, they're both pretty much out of the race.