New Rasmussen: Mitt Takes National Lead; Giuliani, Fred Tied At 13%

Romney 18%, McCain 17%, the Huckster 16%.

I can't see how Thompson can drop out in this situation. The contest is fluid, and Giuliani's supporters are going to go looking for a more viable candidate. (I know I have.) I can't help but think that most supporting Giuliani are looking at Thompson as their number 2.

I also don't think that McCain is going to fare very well as a front-runner. No one else has; why should Mr. Amnesty be immune to the misfortunes of being out ahead? So Thompson has room to grow.

Huckabee probably will flame out too. I could see his support finally cratering down to a more reasonable 5% or so once he gets spanked in South Carolina. Those voters have to go somewhere, and Thompson is and always will be an acceptable choice for almost all Republicans.

If he does drop out, damn it, he really did lack the "fire" for this thing, and he did us all a disservice by mounting a half-hearted effort. He owes it to his supporters -- who are now more or less equal to anyone else's -- to stick around and see how things shake out.

Thanks to someone.

Odd... Karol endorses Giuliani.

I just think it's funny, as I long supported Giuliani and Karol always told me he couldn't win, etc. Well, it turns out he can't win, and now I'm not supporting him and Karol is.

Thompson On Dropping Out: Story Planted By Rival Campaign: Maybe, maybe not. The important thing I'd like to hear is "I'm not going anywhere." He doesn't quite say that.

"That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth," said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

Thompson said a rival campaign was likely the source of that rumor.

"Can you imagine such a thing in politics?" he asked.

Thompson said his campaign is seeing a "surge" in interest right now, and said he has visited 50 communities in the Hawkeye State in the last couple weeks.

"I'm not going to play into any scenario that's not totally optimistic," he said.

I don't want to hear that the story is false, I want to hear "I'm in this thing until the end."

No Promises: I'm just listening to this now, but Allah says Thompson hedges even on whether or not he'd definitely stay in until New Hampshire.

I really don't get this.

Denial/Clarification: The Politco story about Fred dropping out was sourced to "Republican officials close to the Thompson campaign." I read that as campaign officials, and now see that sourcing indicates nothing of the sort. It merely means "Republican officials" of some capacity, somewhere, who have some connection, possibly minor, to the Thompson campaign. It could be, for instance, some local chairman in podunk county in Iowa, or some minor Republican who had endorsed Thompson in the past.

A Republican official in the Thompson campaign points that out and strongly denies the Politico claim.

posted by Ace at 01:58 PM

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