The Wall Street Journal-20080123-Thompson Drops Out of Nomination Hunt
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Thompson Drops Out of Nomination Hunt
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson dropped out of the presidential race yesterday, following his showing in Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary.
"I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Mr. Thompson said in a three-sentence statement. "[Wife] Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."
Mr. Thompson's exit comes just one week before the next major Republican nominating contest, the Jan. 29 Florida primary. With absentee and early voting already under way in the state, many Floridians have already cast votes for Mr. Thompson, and his name will still appear on the ballot.
The four major candidates competing there -- Sen. John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee -- will have six days to court his former supporters. "You are going to have all of the remaining four candidates vying for his 10%, and that could very well tip the balance in the Florida Republican primary," said Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Mr. Smith estimated that former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Romney stand the best chance of benefiting from the social conservatives aligned with Mr. Thompson. Sen. McCain of Arizona, and Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, don't have as much support among social conservatives in Florida, Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Romney was the first of Mr. Thompson's one-time opponents to comment on his departure. "Throughout this campaign, Fred Thompson brought a laudable focus to the challenges confronting our country and the solutions necessary to meet them," he said. "He stood for strong conservative ideas and believed strongly in the need to keep our conservative coalition together."
Mr. Thompson entered the Republican race in September, months after the other candidates had already declared their bids and started campaigning. While he was criticized for a lackluster campaign style, Mr. Thompson had hoped that his Southern roots would appeal to voters in his home region. He largely avoided the early state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, finishing third and sixth in those races.
Despite offering some of his most energized campaign performances in South Carolina in the days leading up to the primary, Mr. Thompson finished a distant third in the race, in which Mr. McCain defeated Mr. Huckabee 33% to 30%.
