Politico: Fred Thompson Expected To Drop Out After Iowa, Endorse McCain

Fred Thompson may drop out

DES MOINES, Iowa – Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.

Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured.

This reality—combined with a fundraising drought—left well-connected friends and advisers of Thompson Wednesday evening predicting that he will pull the plug on hype and hope before the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.

Thompson’s departure could shake up the race more than his continued presence. Friends and advisers said they have long considered it likely that if the lobbyist-actor is forced from the race he would endorse John McCain his former Senate colleague who lately has been staging a political revival in New Hampshire.

“Without a solid third-place finish, there’s no point in going on,” a Thompson adviser said Wednesday. “It was an honorable race, and he turned out to be a good candidate. The moment had just passed.”

A Thompson campaign source said there is “a strong likelihood” that if Thompson comes in a distant third in Iowa, with less than 15 percent of the vote, he would drop out soon—most likely before this weekend’s New Hampshire presidential debates.

The Thompson sources said they were describing a consensus expectation that is now widespread among his political circle, not announcing a decision that the candidate himself has definitively reached.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7682.html

that they were old friends and all. Looks like I might be right.

...but I wonder if anyone's had the heart to wake him up and tell him yet...

:boring:

Chris Matthews is really going to miss Fred's aftershave though. Chris found Thompson very manly.

:shrug:

A reporter for the new Politico Web site apologized for reporting that John Edwards was suspending his campaign for president more than an hour before Edwards said Thursday he was staying in the race.

The incorrect report rocketed through the media before Edwards held his news conference announcing the recurrence of his wife's cancer. Some outlets used Politico's information; others steered clear.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2974277