Fred Thompson to Drop Out . . . a good and principled man ends bid
January 22nd, 2008 Posted in Mitt Romney
I saw a couple of minutes ago Carl Cameron (boy I’m getting sick of his pro-McCain/anti-Romney bias BTW) announce that during the next 24 hours Fred will be bowing out of the race. He’s a solid man with prinicpled many stands. We all wish him the best.
Marc Ambinder is reporting as well.
Jeff Fuller
UPDATE:
A Statement from Fred Thompson
Posted: Tue. 22 Jan 2008
Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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.
posted by Fred
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Just saw it on Fox News. Now we can only hope that he endorses Romney or that if he endorses McCain that his supporters mostly convert to support Romney.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
It’s official:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UB4A7G0&show_article=1
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Now would be a great time for Romney to address Fred and his supporters, and pull out that three leg stool that he was carting around during the summer and fall.
Many Romney supporters see Fred as a viable and strong alternative to Mitt as both have campaigned on core conservative principles from the beginning of this campaign. Vastly different styles and vastly different backgrounds, but both championing the conservative ideals that laid the foundation for what would emerge to become the greatest nation on earth.
Fred supporters, we appreciate and value your dedication and loyalty to conservative principles. Over in Mitt’s camp we sincerely embrace these ideals as well and hope that you will spend some time reconsidering Mitt and developing a beyond the surface understanding of our reasons for supporting him. We sure could use you, not simply because we want to win, but because we share your principles and ideals.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Just saw on the NY Times that Thompson’s advisors say that Thompson will not endorse another candidate. Thompson supporters will find a warm welcome from the Romney camp and an easy switch. Come on over!
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Fred is a member of the CFR, globalist and sovereignty-destroying of all nations, esp America, to the core, so I see him endorsing nobody but McCain. However, his followers may not follow suit.
He’ll probably announce his McCain endorsement the day before the vote, leaving Mitt no time to rebut the reasoning, and getting people to vote knee-jerk.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Fred might wait to the last minute and endorse McCain or wait till before Super Tuesday. However, I think Fred doesn’t want to look bad. Fact is that Fred ran as a true Conservative and the mantle of Reagan, etc. He would look very bad to suddenly endorse the most liberal republican running, given his campaign themes.
He might still endorse McCain, once he feels he can do it without the cries of hypocrisy.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’d rather see Carl Camerloon drop out of the Fox News line-up of talking heads!
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Why is Romney - and ONLY Romney - losing to Hillary and Obama in safe red states like Kansas? Huck and McCain both beat them handily. This is highly troubling to me.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Romney hasn’t campaigned there Mark. The only message they’ve heard about Romney is that of the media, which is anything but favorable.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
dang well now i really hope Mitt wins!
seems strange wasn’t Louisiana primary today and i think fred was set to win that.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
i miss those early jokes about the loafers and golf carts.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
MarkB,
MSM coverage.
Rudy’s down to those guys in those states too . . . is anyone saying Rudy’s more unelectable than Huck in a gereral election? That idea is just laughable.
McCain did much worse that Rudy in these general election match-ups just a few months ago. What changed? Constant negative press for one and constant positve press for the other.
Fear not . . . ROmney’s had nothing but negative press for quite a while (widespread effort to suppress his rise) and he’s still hanging in there.
Bill Clinton was polling 3rd in national head to head polls behind GHWBush AND Ross Perot when he finally got the Dem nomination in 1992. Also, GHWBush was polling 17.5% behind Dukakis AFTER the nominating conventions . . . but you’ve never heard the term “President Dukakis” have you?
Don’t buy into these meaningless head to head polls. All of us Romney supporters know that if you put him on a stage with any of the Dems that he’ll wipe the floor with them and the American people will take notice!
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Isn’t romney the only republican running (outside of paul obviously) who isnt on CFR council for foreign relationship (better known as we should let mexico’s president decide our border laws)
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Fox just had some guy on saying he expects Fred supports to go to Huckabee or Rudy. No mention of Mitt. Apparently he does not have access to some of the fredhead polls we have! MSM once again trying to influence away from MR.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Fox is showing a old poll with McCain in the lead. They rarely show the latest poll with Romney a head by 5% with a 4% margin of error. When is the next poll due to come out?
I think Romney got a bounce out of Nevada and it looks like he took support away from Huckabee. Hopefully Fred supporters will support Mitt and that will really widen his lead.
We should petition Fox to get Cameron out of the election coverage of Mitt. He has an obvious bias. They need to do their jobs and stop making the news and start reporting fairly. Carl is in love with McCain and feels the republican should throw the race to him. I hope Florida disappoints Carl.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
It’s well time to BOYCOTT FoxNews.
The only thing worth watching is CNN’s Lou Dobbs and some of MSNBC’s daytime broadcast.
Everything else is just a joke. In the past 24 hours Fox has had a segment on the requirements of being a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, as well as a segment on how lipstick is supposedly making womens’ breasts bigger. No joke!
The rest of the time on Fox was spent promoting McCain and avoiding the immigration issue.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I have always thought Fred has not liked Romney. Maybe because Fred is an insider and Romney is running as an outsider. A real conservative would not endorse McCain.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I’m hoping that means he won’t endorse McCain, if he ever endorses anybody. Waiting until 1/29 or 2/5 to make an endorsement like that seems too phony, not the style Fred has had throughout all of this.
Besides, somebody on his team has to have made him aware that the vast majority of his supporters will be most likely to move to Romney, if anybody. That being the case, if he wanted to help John McCain win the nomination, his strongest move wouldn’t be an endorsement, but rather continuing in the race keep those voters from Mitt. Apparently money wasn’t the reason for dropping out…
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Tray,
Fred the was trying to campaign on the premise that he was the only true conservative and Romney was claiming the same thing. It’s really hard to know what Fred thought…but I guess we may see if he does come out and endorse. Hopefully the Fred Heads will atleast take a look at Romney… and especially in light of the economy and what the other candidates bring to the table. I think Mitt stands out.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Fred won’t be endorsing Mitt. He and McCain are really good friends. In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t immediately endorse McCain. Why the wait?
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Here is what I think for what it is worth. I think I do not care. We need to continue the fight and win this race. Fred’s supporters who obviously believe in the conservative cause will come over to Mitt if we all do our part. So in the end I don’t think it matters if Fred Thompson ends up endorsing his Liberal buddy McCain. Fred supporters are fully aware that their man and McCain are friends but I doubt they care, because they want conservative leadership (which of course Fred represented to them not McCain). I believe the majority of Fredheads are going to support Mitt and perhaps a few Evangelicals will in a desperate and nonsensical move support the dying candidate Huckabee for no good reason. Again lets keep the eye on the prize and forget the rest. Mitt Romney is going to Win Florida (with our help) and that will take us all the way to the White House. Then it is time to fix our almost broken country to be the Great nation we once were!
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Guys there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Fred Thompson wil be endorsing John McCain any day now. Fred’s campaign was weak from the beggining and he may have been in the race just to spoil it enough to cause Romney harm. I think Huckabee believes he has a shot at John McCains v.p slot. Little does he know its all ready been decided that Fred has a lock on that. That is why Fred went after Huck hard in the South Carolina debate in my opinion. I dont believe that Fred Thompson is a true conservative as every one makes him out to be. I belive that when John McCain called he answered!
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Hey guys….I’m a Fred Head….and yes, I’m very disappointed!
Although I support Fred, I will not support McCane…even if Fred endorses him or becomes his running mate.
We Fred Heads supported him for his conservative values and will only consider someone with the same values. Obviously, it’s not McCane or Huckabee.
So, will someone here tell me how Mitt can fill our void?
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:11 am
A McCain/Thompson ticket would be a joke!! Together, they’re older than the constitution itself. Imagine Hillary/Obama against those two! It would be a wipe-out.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:01 am
I heard today that Fred was not interested in a VP position. Hopefully, his former supporters will decide to support Romney.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 am
Jeff, check out this link. It is a good summary of where Mitt stands on the issues. I think you’ll like what you see.
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2007/12/26/why-i-am-supporting-mitt-romney-for-president/
January 24th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for the link David Kim, I will be printing this off and taking it with me when I meet with some of my other Former Fred Supporters on Saturday night. Too all my Fellow FredHead friends it will be good to be working with you again, Mr. Romney is the only conservative still running lets get him into the office!! To all the folks that expect Fred to support McCain, I would be very unlikely that he will come out to endorse any candidate, he entered the race because he felt compelled to, otherwise he would have just endorsed a canidate. As far as myself & the former FredHeads go, I know we are CONSERVATIVES so do not worry about a migration to McCain (pick a reason), Rudy(2nd amendment, sanctuary cities , Abortion… Is there a reason he is not running on the Democrat ticket??? ), or Huck for that matter (the whole tax, Illeagals, and especially the recent Push Polling from his folks against fred in S.C. leaves a real bad taste in the mouth of any dedicated prior FredHead). I beleive if anything comes out of Fred’s signing off that it will be a swell in numbers for Mitt. I am still tring to get all the information I need to talk intelligently about Mitt & his stances to others. any advise to bring me up to date would be appreciated. Looking forward to working with my new Mitt friends in the future. It should be an interesting debate tonight with all the line up changes!! I hope Mitt takes first in Florida and flushes Rudy out. I believe that in a One on One vs. McCain that he has a great chance for the Nomination. I do not think Huck has a chance, I still believe that our party is for its conservative roots!! Go Mitt!
January 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Good work Hooligan. Keep the former Thompson supporters coming.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Thanks Nate, Will Do!!
January 24th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Anyone know if Mitt would support a National Right to Carry Concealed Firearms Permit? I know its something that would give him a NRA Voter Block Groundswell if he came out that he was behind it. Just a thought.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Sorry to be a Blog Hog just have another question, is there anything out here on how Mitt’s John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program could be applied on a National Scale or would it be a template for other states? also how is it funded? Thanks!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Nate can you add Pennsylvanians For Mitt on your site? http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=2236709491
Yeah we get to vote in April on the 22nd … guess that just means we have Plenty of time to plant some seeds to get a grassroots support growing by then though aye?? Thanks!! Hooligan