New Romney Ad in Florida Highlights Business Experience, Economy

Fred Thompson: Will He Stay or Will He Go?

Although Thompson's impending announcement about the future of his candidacy hasn't received as much media fanfare as I expected, his decision has the potential to shift the course of the Republican nomination.

FOX News political analyst Carl Cameron reported yesterday evening:

Fred Thompson sources say the actor and former Tenn senator may withdraw from the race. There are no plans to attend Thursday’s Florida debate. Staffers have been on partial pay since the NH primary. The Senators plans are very fluid. As of 8:45 this evening, there are no plans for any announcement about whether he will stay in the race or not. The team is wrestling with very few options. The Senator is in Nashville visiting his mother (in her 90’s) who has been ill. From THE FIRST DAY Fox News broke the story last March of his candidacy, Thompson has always had a vice presidential bid in mind. Today a top aide even mentioned the idea on Brian and the Judge on Fox News Radio.

Michelle Malkin notes that an important Thompson supporter in Georgia, Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson, has defected to the Romney camp ("...clearly Fred Thompson is not going to be the nominee”) while Michael Sheer, a staff writer for the Washington Post, has already penned the Thompson Campaign's obituary.

After Thompson's anticipated withdrawal, will an endorsement of Sen. John McCain be forthcoming?

Sheer ambiguously concludes:

After Thompson's South Carolina loss, advisers privately suggested that their
candidate could throw his support to McCain, boosting McCain's hopes of defeating Huckabee, Romney and Rudolph W. Giuliani in the fractured GOP field. In the Senate, Thompson helped McCain pass campaign finance legislation, and the two are friends.

But one senior Thompson aide said he did not expect an endorsement of McCain anytime soon -- even if Thompson were to drop out of the race this week.

UPDATE: Thompson calls it quits.

CNN reports:

Former Sen. Fred Thompson on Tuesday ended his run for the presidency, coming off the heels of a disappointing third-place finish in South Carolina's GOP primary and heading into the showdown state of Florida next week.

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States," Thompson said in a statement.

"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."

According to the NY Times, "Mr. Thompson’s advisers said he would not make an endorsement in the race."

If this statement is accurate, then Thompson's non-endorsement will be a significant blow to Sen. John McCain, whom Thompson endorsed in 2000. (More importantly, it leaves open the possibility of our Romney-Thompson 2008 dream ticket!)

Romney to Government Bureaucrats: You're Fired!

Gov. Mitt Romney delivers a stump speech beside Senate earmark reformer Jim DeMint at a recent campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo credit: Calhoun St. Coffee)

In today's no-holds-barred interview on "FOX News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pointedly inquired about layoffs during Romney's tenure as head of Bain Capital.

Gov. Mitt Romney responded in stride:

No, there's no question that if you're in the business world and you're trying to save a business that's in trouble, that you're not going to be successful 100 percent of the time.

And I'm very proud of the fact that we were successful many, many times. We grew jobs quite dramatically in many settings. But oftentimes, when an enterprise is in real trouble, you have to try and cut back to save it.

And I'll tell you, when you look at Washington and how badly broken Washington is, you're going to have to have somebody who can go there and say, "You know what? There are too many bureaucrats. There are too many employees in government. We're going to have to cut back in Washington."

...

(The rest of his response is here.)

With his tremendous success in the private sector, Gov. Romney is uniquely qualified to eliminate the excesses of America's government bureaucracy, bloated with hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Why? Because he's done it before in his business career.

It's about time we heard some real "straight talk."

MCCAIN WINS GOLD STAR IN PALMETTO STATE

(Photo credit: Calhoun St. Coffee)

Today, Sen. John McCain did what he has never done before: win a plurality in the "conservative" state of South Carolina. His 3% victory over Mike Huckabee garnered 19 delegates, placing him behind Mitt Romney for the largest delegate total.

ROMNEY WINS NEVADA CAUCUSES

Mitt Romney continues to gain momentum with today's too-easily-overlooked win in Nevada, which is geographically significant because of the shared southeastern border with John McCain's home state of Arizona. Romney's 51% drubbing of the Republican field garnered 18 more pledged delegates, bringing his delegate total to 72.

CNN reports:

A sometimes overwhelming number of Republican voters swept Mitt Romney to victory Saturday in the Nevada caucuses, where the former Massachusetts governor scored well with conservatives, late deciders and veterans, according to early entrance polls.
...
Romney scored well with voters who ranked the economy and illegal immigration -- the top two issues on the minds of Nevada GOP voters -- as the issues that concern them most, according to early entrance polls.
...

Romney's Immigration Stance May Cost Endorsements in Florida Primary

Paleoconservative pundit Bob Novak, widely known as the "Prince of Darkness," mingles unassumingly with the crowd of veterans and local politicians at last night's McCain pep rally aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown. (Photo credit: Calhoun St. Coffee)

On the Human Events website, Novak notes that several Republican politicians in Florida, which has a sizable Hispanic population, don't appear very excited about Gov. Mitt Romney's candidacy. At first glance, this might seem to be a stumbling block for the resurging Romney camp; however, it may also present an opportunity. If Romney holds firm to his immigration position on the campaign trail in Florida, then I predict a lot of undecided conservatives, who may (unfairly, in my opinion) question his ideological resolve, will align behind him en masse for the Super Tuesday primaries.

Novak reports:

Florida's top two Republicans, Gov. Charles Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez, have not endorsed anybody in the state's key Republican presidential primary Jan. 29 but are clearly negative about Mitt Romney.

Martinez, who co-sponsored President Bush's ill-fated immigration reform bill, resents Romney's hard line on illegal immigration. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's
support for Romney does not help him with Crist, Bush's unfriendly successor.
...

Anyone Surprised?

(Photo Credit: Calhoun St. Coffee)

While introducing John McCain at the campaign's final rally in South Carolina aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown, Sen. Lindsey Graham remarked that he and candidate John Edwards had been born at the same hospital in Seneca, South Carolina.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell is mistaken; there must be something in that Upstate water.