GOP Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson finished sixth in the New Hampshire GOP Primary tonight with 2600 votes. (He was behind McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani, and Paul) Maybe Ron Paul should be invited to the SCGOP debates and not Fred.
I find it amusing that Fred Thompson didn't even get 3000 votes in a state wide race where over 200,000 voters partipated. To put this in context, my wife ran for school board last year in SC and came in last place amoung five candidates with ~3200 votes. She did this with less than $1000 in a small 7500 student school district not millions spent over an entire state.
I don't know what this says of Fred's bid for presidency considering when he entered the race he was considered the last great hope for conservatives. At the time many of the "experts" that now work for Thompson said Mike Huckabee lacked name recognition and Fred was more "electable". Thompson could beat Hillary in the general election. (Dennis Kucinich got ~900 more votes that Thompson tonight in NH) Things sure have changed! During the NH Primary returns, I honestly think the Fox News commentators had to be reminded that Thompson is still in the race so they would mention his name.
For me it's ironic that many of the talking heads on TV were saying McCain would likely be "done" if he didn't win New Hampshire tonight. But by comparison, Thompson's campaign claims they haven't even "started" yet. (Starting late is a new campaign strategy Thompson is developing) Thompson claims to have big things in store for the SC race. Then again, we all know Fred doesn't want to do too much work so how big can the surprise be? Plus, I know some of the folks working as campaign coordinators on Fred's campaign - they've learned how to make a living in politics but they really haven't learned what it is to work hard. (or effectively)
The good news is that soon Fred will be "done". When he finishes in third or fourth (or lower) in SC he will drop from the race. Thompson probably wants to get back to his life in Hollywood anyway. It's a lot easier work for a lot more money. I wonder what his SC campaign staff will do since they've ticked off so many people plus made the blunder of supporting Fred in the first place? Maybe they'll need to find real jobs; nah, they have out of state sugar daddies that will keep them going.
