Fred Thompson's campaign spends more time putting out fire than a California fire fighter. The latest conflagration? The man who was to be Thompson's chairman for the crucial state of New Hampshire has just quit, saying: "I don't want to be a token chairman for a token campaign." He's joined John McCain instead. According to Wonkette:
When informed of Hughes defection, Thompson mumbled something unintelligible into his shirt collar and then wandered off to find some food, a gun, or something.
Meanwhile, the latest poll finds that Fred continues to weaken at the national level. He wins support of just 15% of Republican voters, way behind Rudy Giuliani (32%) and only just ahead of John McCain (13%). That's a fall from 21% in June - before Thompson declared he was running.
Fred's strategy, if he has one, seems to be to campaign in the south - although his recent Florida foray didn't do him much good. Will he still be a candidate in Iowa, 71 days from now? It depends if he bothers to show up.
One conservative blogger, Eunomia, wonders:
Thompson may be one of the first candidates to to try to run by first ignoring substance and then ignoring process.
