Fred Thompson is so close to dropping out of the presidential race that his campaign is already leaking who he’ll endorse: John McCain.
This makes sense—Thompson endorsed McCain over Bush in 2000 and was a follower of McCain on campaign finance reform and fiscal fanaticism while in the Senate. Thompson is also catching McCain on an upswing, which is good timing for both men.
McCain needs only a few points in New Hampshire to push him over the top. Thompson only has a few followers in NH, but they (plus a handful of undecideds who will be reassured about McCain’s conservative credentials by Thompson’s endorsement) may well give McCain a victory.
Even bigger than NH is the sway Thompson could potentially have in South Carolina, where Thompson still has double digit support. McCain is rising right now in SC—and Romney and Huckabee are dividing the McCain Haters’ vote pretty evenly. A mere 30% may be good enough for McCain to win.
Meanwhile, the collapse of Giuliani benefits no one more than McCain, who fights for the same terrorism-is-everything voters who are more than willing to look past a candidate’s real or perceived shortcomings on social fundamentalism. If McCain wins NH, MI, and SC with Thompson’s help, he may well carry Rudy’s precious FL on Jan. 29 and CA on Feb. 5.
If so, are we looking at McCain/Thompson at the GOP convention?
- Rick Lewis
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