In a three-sentence statement on his website, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson announced that he has resigned from the Republican presidential campaign.
“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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.”
Wonder who he’ll endorse now?
From NPR:
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s first experience with big league politics thrust him in the spotlight as chief Republican counsel on the Senate committee investigating the Watergate scandal. Thompson’s pressing of former Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield led to revelations of the existence of recorded conversations in the Oval Office.
And according to NPR’s report, Thompson is very proud of that. But apparently there’s evidence to say that it wasn’t all Thompson’s doing.
Today, the Web site of Thompson’s presidential campaign says he “gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office.” But in other accounts, Thompson’s role in the Watergate probe was much more ambiguous.
One instance came at a hearing three weeks before Butterfield testified. The witness was John Dean, formerly Nixon’s chief counsel, then the star witness against the president.
Thompson opened his cross-examination with an attempt to disarm Dean: “I hope I’m not considered to be badgering you in any way, but I’m sure you realize, as one lawyer to another, that your actions and motivations are very relevant.”
Dean shot back, “In fact, if I were still at the White House, I’d probably be feeding you the questions to ask the person who’s sitting here.”
Thompson hesitated and then began, “Well, Mr. Dean,” as laughter rolled through the hearing room. “And if I were here as I am, I would respond as I have responded, that I don’t need any questions to be fed to me from anybody.”
In fact, Thompson was being fed information — by Nixon lawyer J. Fred Buzhardt. White House tapes, later made public, captured Nixon, Buzhardt and others discussing the cooperation of both Thompson and Baker, not once but several times.
Whatcha gonna do brother when Huck-a-Mania runs wild over you?!
You’ve gotta see this blog post….
THE ONLY POLLSTER that really matters is Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports. In addition to his unrivaled track record, Rasmussen is also the only pollster who is currently screening for likely voters. So when Rasmussen says something, we ought to pay attention.
Yesterday, Rasmussen released a poll of the Iowa Republican Caucus. Given its surprising results, I’m surprised it hasn’t received more attention. Romney’s winning with 25 percent; no big shakes there. Fred’s in second at 19 percent; again, nothing earth shattering. But here comes the bombshell: Mike Huckabee checks in at 18 percent, a stunningly strong third place showing and within shouting distance of the frontrunners….
Huckabee is the most natural campaigner in the bunch. Unlike one member of the top tier, there’s no danger that he’ll doze off in mid-sentence. Unlike other members of the top-tier, Huckabee’s a social conservative’s dream. You want someone rock-ribbed on the social issues? Huckabee’s your guy. He doesn’t even believe in evolution. His taxing and spending in Arkansas may not be every conservative’s ideal, but Huckabee probably has fewer policy skeletons in his closet than anyone else in the field.
Oh and Gov. McDreamy announced his endorsement for Rudy this week. Looks like typical politics in action.
Mike Huckabee is in third place in the latest Iowa poll with 12% of the vote behind Romney and Thompson (who’s a joke).
From the Des Moines Register:
Mitt Romney still leads in Iowa but Fred Thompson, a relative newcomer to the presidential race, has emerged as his nearest competitor in a new Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus participants.
Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani are in a close fight for third place in the Iowa Poll taken over three days last week.
Romney, who has campaigned more often in Iowa than his Republican rivals, is the presidential choice of 29 percent of those who say they definitely or probably will attend the leadoff caucuses.
Support for the former Massachusetts governor is essentially unchanged from an Iowa Poll taken in May, when he was the top choice of 30 percent.