This provides a big opening for Huckabee in the south. He may pull votes that would have otherwise gone to Thompson because they don’t want to vote for a northeasterner or McCain.

Let’s hope it’s not enough to give him enough delegates to make a difference. That’s one of the reasons I wanted Thompson to stay in, at least through super Tuesday.

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“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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

Here are some thoughts from someone who is thinking like me:

Fred Thompson would appear to still have an opening, however small, in this race. McCain is on the rise in this race but he has not sewn it up by any means.

Romney has the money, the delegates and now the poll numbers in Florida to make a race of this. If Fred Thompson leaves the race now, in its still very fluid form, not only does he embolden McCain

He can’t get votes other than from evangelicals. Good.

The question is, how long will he carry on? Unfortunately, it looks like he will go on for a while, because he seems to be having a good time, and he’ll probably continue to get funding from his own base.

One of the reasons that Thompson should stay in the race is that so many others are. As long as he persists (and if he can continue the momentum that he was starting to build out of South Carolina) he may be able to pick up enough delegates to have a seat at the table in Minneapolis (and an outside shot at becoming a consensus nominee). And he has to continue to pull conservative votes from Huckabee.

He can’t get votes other than from evangelicals. Good.

The question is, how long will he carry on? Unfortunately, it looks like he will go on for a while, because he seems to be having a good time, and he’ll probably continue to get funding from his own base.

One of the reasons that Thompson should stay in the race is that so many others are. As long as he persists (and if he can continue the momentum that he was starting to build out of South Carolina) he may be able to pick up enough delegates to have a seat at the table in Minneapolis (and an outside shot at becoming a consensus nominee). And he has to continue to pull conservative votes from Huckabee.

He can’t get votes other than from evangelicals. Good.

The question is, how long will he carry on? Unfortunately, it looks like he will go on for a while, because he seems to be having a good time, and he’ll probably continue to get funding from his own base.

One of the reasons that Thompson should stay in the race is that so many others are. As long as he persists (and if he can continue the momentum that he was starting to build out of South Carolina) he may be able to pick up enough delegates to have a seat at the table in Minneapolis (and an outside shot at becoming a consensus nominee). And he has to continue to pull conservative votes from Huckabee.

Wise words that many have forgotten. I’m sure that the anti-Zionist left will just think he’s an uppity negro, though.

[Update a few minutes later]

To commemorate the holiday, Alan Boyle has some useful links on the scientific bases (or not) of race. I agree that it’s much more a social construct than a scientific one.

[Mid-morning update]

An apt thought, that applies to fans of Mike Huckabee as well:

Identity politics is bad news. Today seems like a perfect day to reflect on that.

The Federalist Party is not currently in use.

[Update on Monday night]

Link seems to be broken, and Bill Quick’s site seems to have problems in general. anyway, here’s a new related follow-up post. I’ll try to update with more at a new post as things develop, but basically, the idea was to found a new party based on small government, since the Republicans no longer seem interested in it.

More here on the judge and the scumbag.

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.