Bob Krumm is doing one final fund raiser to keep Thompson in the race.

[Update at 2:30 PM Eastern]

He's out:

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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."

Not a surprise, but disappointing nonetheless.

paid

ditto

Now doubt Jim Harris will claim credit for forcing Rand to persuade Thompson to withdraw. :-)

Although I wonder why a partisan Democrat like JH was so panicky/anxious/desperate for Fred to withdraw, if he was such a poor candidate?

He's still trading at $0.004 on the dollar so I permit you to have 1/6 of the optimism you had when he was trading at $0.024 cents on the dollar.

So what do I do now? Sigh...

McCain: I suppose I could do this since I do still believe that an aggressive pursuit of the war necessarily trumps most other issues. But, as with Bush, I'm NOT going to be remotely happy about it.

Giulliani: Not as unhappy as McCain since he is pro-choice personally and will hopefully pay more lip service to states rights than McCain. But am I just setting myself for yet another disappointment when Giulliani drops out because he can't get the pro-life vote?

My prediction - either Hillary or Obama (makes no difference) by at least 8 points in the popular vote, and a landslide in the EC.

Huckabee is (thank deity-of-your-choice) not going to get the nomination, and he and Fred were the only candidates to energize the social conservatives. McCain has PO'd them, Rudy has a big history with Planned Parenthood, and the evangelicals have a problem with Mormons. The social conservatives are going to sit this one out.

So are most fiscal conservatives, given the big government ways of McCain and Rudy. Romney may get their vote, but he's not going to get their enthusiasm.

Thompson could have gotten those critical groups working for a Rep victory, but without him...

Large numbers of usually Rep voters are going to sit on their hands, and the D's are going to win by default.

Time to start tax/investment planning for next year... if you can't afford a personal lobbyist and aren't a member of a group already represented by one, better start stuffing money under the mattress.

get ready for the big recession. The departure of the only true Republican from the race guarantees a November victory for either Black Carter or Female Clinton. Not sure which but either one will be a disaster the country may never recover from.

I disagree. I think Clinton will be the eventual Dem nominee, and I believe McCain will wipe her sorry and slimy arse in the ground.