Fred leaves race, but I will keep *FRED08* stickers on my car

Fred Thompson Out of Race -- Washington Post, United States - 15 minutes ago By Chris Cillizza --Former senator Fred Thompson (Tenn.) bowed to the obvious moments ago, dropping out of the 2008 presidential race in a tersely-worded ...

((( Damn! )))

AND

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012102169.html

(((((But is this so? Is WAPO right ~~~ about us, The Campaign Aides? Fred had enough fire - he just didn't play the DA or the Admiral or an acting role - He was RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.))))

"His best moment came when he launched his campaign. At the end of that week, he took the lead in the Republican field in national polls.

"But Thompson saw his poll numbers plummet from the high 20s and low 30s in early September to single digits by the end of last year. His support in early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire declined so far that he barely campaigned in those battlegrounds.

"Campaign aides worked hard to cover for their candidate's lack of enthusiasm, explaining his lack of campaign appearances -- he often had just one public event a day -- by saying Thompson was running a different kind of campaign that would harness the power of Internet communications and conservative talk radio.

"Yet in the five minutes of that October speech in Florida, Thompson did the most to validate the chief criticism of his 2008 presidential bid: that he never had the fire in his belly to be a serious contender."

# # #