Fred, we hardly knew ye
I was wrong. Back on Sept. 14, I predicted that former Sen. Fred Thompson--then riding a tidal wave of support from Republicans who assumed he was still alive because they saw him on Law & Order reruns--wouldn't last until the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Instead, he made a liar out of me by staying in until losing the South Carolina primary and throwing in the towel. His best showing was in the Wyoming caucuses (yes, they occurred), where he received 25 percent of the vote but Mitt Romney was the winner.
I can't help but think back to the quixotic presidential campaign of Pat Paulsen, that other fellow who tried in 1968(comedically) to ride his TV popularity on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour to the presidency. It was good for a few laughs. I remember when he ended his candidacy thanking "52 good Americans who voted for me in New Hampshire, two good Americans who voted for me in Wisconsin," etc. Thompson provided a very few laughs, but nothing he really intended. Mostly he seemed to sleep-walk through the debates and appearances, seeming continually perplexed, like Ross Perot running mate Admiral James Stockdale in the 1992 vice presidential debate, as to why he was here.
So for the Republicans, it's now down to John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, or America's favorite psychotic bully, Rudolph Giuliani. I suspect Giuliani will be out after the Florida primary, but I've been wrong before.