NAPLES, Fla., Jan. 22, 2008
Thompson Drops Out Of White House Race
Former Senator, Actor Does Not Say If He Will Endorse Any Of His Republican Rivals
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Thompson Leaves Race
Fred Thompson has dropped out of the GOP race, but has not said if he will support any of his Republican rivals. Nancy Cordes reports.
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Photo Essay
Fred Thompson
He has played the role of the president in several films. Now he is running to be it for real.
"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States.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," the former Tennessee senator said in a brief statement.
Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.
Speculation began swirling around Thompson as a potential candidate last June and, after months of build up, he formally launched his candidacy to much fanfare after Labor Day. But the former Tennessee senator never clicked on the campaign trail and his message of tough and straight talk about the problems facing the nation failed to consolidate the conservative voters he sought to attract.
"Thompson never appeared to have the fire in the belly for an all-out presidential campaign," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "He entered the race at a very late date and never did the groundwork needed to make up ground, especially in key states like Iowa and South Carolina. Except for a few lively debate moments, Thompson just didn't connect to primary voters who are used to being courted much harder for their votes."
In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals. He was one of a handful of members of Congress who supported Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 in his unsuccessful race against George W. Bush for the party nomination.
Thompson, best known as the gruff district attorney on NBC's "Law & Order," placed third in Iowa and South Carolina, two states seemingly in line with his right-leaning pitch and laid-back style, and fared even worse in the four other states that have held contests thus far. Money already tight, he ran out of it altogether as the losses piled up.
Thompson, 65, exits the most wide open Republican race in half a century; three candidates each having won in the six states that have voted.
In Florida, McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are battling for the lead ahead of its Jan. 29 primary, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee evaluates his next steps amid money troubles of his own.
In an interview Tuesday, Huckabee suggested he would have beaten McCain in South Carolina if Thompson had dropped out earlier.
"The votes that he took essentially were votes that I would have most likely had, according to the exit polls and every other analysis," Huckabee said on MSNBC.
Despite initial impressions that Thompson could garner strong conservative support, it never materialized. He never won backing from more than one in five conservatives in any of the earliest primaries and caucuses, including the 19 percent who exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks showed supported him in South Carolina. His showings were similarly weak with white born-again and evangelical Christians.
In New York, McCain told The Associated Press: "Fred Thompson ran an honorable campaign. He and I will remain close friends, and I wish him and his family the best."
In a statement, Romney commended Thompson's candidacy.
"Throughout this campaign, Fred Thompson brought a laudable focus to the challenges confronting our country and the solutions necessary to meet them," Romney said in a statement. "He stood for strong conservative ideas and believed strongly in the need to keep our conservative coalition together."
Thompson's withdrawal capped a turbulent 10 months that saw him go from hot to not in short order.
He began toying with a presidential run last March, emboldened by a fluid Republican nomination fight and a restive conservative GOP base. He also was charmed by resounding calls for him to get into the race - and his meteoric springtime rise to the top of national and state polls.
Fans trying to draft him as a candidate launched an online effort, seizing on his conservative Senate voting record as well as his lumbering 6-foot-5 frame and deep baritone as they argued that he was right out of central casting. They painted him as the second coming of Ronald Reagan and the would-be savior of a Republican Party demoralized after electoral losses in 2006 at all levels of government.
Expectations rose higher - and his standing in polls started to fall as he failed to meet them.
Thompson played coy about his intentions all the while taking steps to prepare for a formal entrance into the race with a flourish. He cut ties with NBC, visited early voting states and delivered high-profile speeches. And, he started raising money and set up a preliminary campaign organization.
He delayed his expected summertime entrance in the race until fall, perhaps missing an opening created by McCain's near campaign implosion.
As he prepared to officially join the race, Thompson was plagued by lackluster fundraising; high-profile staff departures, including some prompted by his wife Jeri's involvement in the campaign, and less-than-stellar performances on the stump. Thompson also endured repeated questions about his career as a lobbyist and his thin Senate record.
Thompson formally announced his bid in early September, but hit a rocky patch from the get-go. He skipped a Republican debate in New Hampshire, annoying some in the state, to announce his candidacy on NBC's "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.
His easygoing style and reputation for laziness translated into a light campaign schedule that raised questions about his desire to be president. A spate of inartful answers to campaign-trail questions - on everything from the Terri Schiavo case to Osama bin Laden - didn't help matters.
Though his star had faded, Thompson earned positive reviews for a series of debate performances last fall and earned an endorsement by the National Right to Life Committee.
Thompson first made a name in Washington politics three decades ago when he served as minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. Thompson, who was 30 at the time, was appointed to the high-profile job by his political mentor, then-Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee, who was the top Republican on the committee. Thompson had managed Baker's re-election campaign and had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville.
Thompson asked one of the key questions of the Watergate hearings: "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?"
Butterfield's reply was the first time the public learned that President Nixon had been secretly taping his conversations. But Thompson, who knew the answer before he asked his famous question, had tipped off the White House before the hearing that the committee had discovered the existence of the tapes.
Several years later while practicing law in Tennessee, Thompson represented Marie Ragghianti, the head of the Tennessee Parole Board who was fired after exposing a pardon-selling scheme involving aides for then-Gov. Ray Blanton. Thompson played himself in the 1985 movie "Marie" based on the episode and got generally positive reviews.
The film launched Thompson's acting career. Among his many characters, he played President Ulysses S. Grant in last year's made-for-TV HBO movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," and the fictional President Charles Ross in the 2005 film "Last Best Chance."
Thompson was elected in 1994 to the Senate to fill the unexpired term of Al Gore, who had been elected vice president. He easily won re-election in 1996.
During his eight years in the Senate, Thompson was considered a reliably conservative vote.
A couple of months after his 38-year-old daughter died of a heart attack, Thompson announced he would not run for re-election in 2002.
In April of last year, Thompson disclosed that he was diagnosed in 2004 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a highly treatable form of cancer.
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See all 165 CommentsRomney is the only candidate that has the experience, education, self-control and values necessary to do the job. Check out all the candidates on Wikipedia and see for yourself.
Sounds exactly like the Bush Jr. campaign. No more trustfunders in the White House. Sorry.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQ7Prwh7Gc
Setting aside the issue of whether a President can pardon himself, this bill violates the ex post facto provision of the Constitution. Note: Talk about knowing you are a war criminal and seeking a pardon BEFORE being legally charged by an institution of justice for the crime, this admission of guilt pales in comparison to any other suspicion or conspiracy theorist.
Buzzflash.com
I think his supporters will divide between huckabee and mCcain.
Who will Thompsons multitude of supporters turn to?
McCain''s best chance it to win a lot in the west, and do very well in the east. I think Huckabee will do well in the south and Giuliani will do well in only a few states and at this point pry wont win any of them. So i think the rest of the states will split between huckabee, mccain and romney.
Although McCain/Thompson ticket would have really lived up to the Moniker "Grand Old Party"
McCain / Huckabee is their only chance.
Now if Mr. Thompson wants to avoid eternal damnation, he will endorse the only candidate willing to put the bible back into our constitution.
Well, the devastation facing the neo cons this year may well be the end of them for a while.
Came in with a yawn. Left with a yawn. Yawwwwnnn....
It doesn''t really matter who wins the Republican nomination. All that any of them have to offer is a third Bu$h term.
A Vice President serves in case something happens to the president; other than that, it is mostly weddings and funerals. Why would you buy a used Ford with 300,000 miles on it in case your new Porche stopped running?
Huckabee can''t change the constitution. He can barely keep his sons in Purina Baptist Chow.
A Vice President serves in case something happens to the president; other than that, it is mostly weddings and funerals. Why would you buy a used Ford with 300,000 miles on it in case your new Porche stopped running?
Posted by marcodele at 03:36 PM : Jan 22, 2008
So.... where were you in 2000 when Bush/Chaney out of the pits of Hell into existence. Chaney was a spry young chicken back in 2000?
Mike Huckabee,Jesse Ventura,Jesse Jackson,Mike Tyson all better than Bush.
You are sure to like the Republican nominee.
There is little difference in any of the Republican candidates (excepting Snowball Paul) and the current occupants of the White House.
Tweedledum and tweedlesdummer.
Fred Thompson has Non-Hodgkin''s Lymphoma. That is a disqualifier. It''s not even close to a gray area. He has less than a 50% chance of living until 2013. My mother died of Non-Hodgkin''s Lymphoma, so I know what I''m talking about.
http://www.lymphomation.org/statistics.htm
Giuliani''s health is probably pretty bad, but that''s just my theory. He had that episode in December where he went to the emergency room, but as far as I know he never disclosed how bad off he was. He keeps the press away. They don''t travel with him and rarely see him when he isn''t on stage. I figure that means he is hiding serious health issues.
McCain is 71 and if elected would be the oldest first-term president in history. If elected to a second term, he would be the oldest president in history (beating out Ronald Reagan).
One more thing about the late Sen. Thompson, he would be the worst choice for VP. It''s not really an issue though, because Huckabee has the VP spot all sewn up regardless of who the candidate is.
Mike Huckabee,Jesse Ventura,Jesse Jackson,Mike Tyson all better than Bush.
Posted by JJJASMAN at 03:44
Daffy Duck---better than Bush!!!
If it''s a McLame-Shrew standoff in November, I''ll be sleeping in. One RINO who loves ILLEGALS more than his own citizens, and has a hangup about extracting confessions from those who''d murder us, and one cuckolded shrill shrew who never learned the word DIVORCE - or self-respect. If the ''ho couldn''t have the smarts to dump Bill, then how is she going to stand up to Ahmedinejedad? After he nukes New York??? Not much of a choice there, folks.
Now if Mr. Thompson wants to avoid eternal damnation, he will endorse the only candidate willing to put the bible back into our constitution.
Posted by neoconnie
Where in the Constitution was the Bible?
His only purpose in running in the South Carolina primary was to "steal" Evangelical votes from Huckabee and throw the election to McCain.
Not the the GOP insiders have any lovelost for McCain, it''s just that Huckabee is beholding to none of them, and if he won S.C, he would be in the driver''s seat for the nomination-- and that scared the bejesus out of them!
I''ll shine Thompson''s shoes if you change his Depends.
Another intelligent post by the Fox News Spoon Fed generation who gave us George W. Bush Jr. and an 8 trillion dollar deficit, dead U.S. soldiers, and a check for $300.00.
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2008/01/22/fredheads-will-decide-the-gop-nominee/
By the way a warm welcome to any of you Fred supporters who are now joining us. If you follow the same link you will find a great site with an abundance of information on a candidate, who like Fed Thompson, stands for the full spectrum of Republican values. Don%u2019t let the media make up your mind for you; please take the time to really look at an honorable man who has the experience we need in the leader of our country. Go Mitt Romney.
Slick Huck is really a liberal and "slick" but not conservative.
Slick Huck has also given up on Florida and has gone to Georgia to campaign.
That means supporters of Fred and Huck should "mostly" move to the GOP nominee.
..............................that''s right GO MITT !! the most qualified candidate running for president from either party in 2008, no question about it!
(yawn).
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