FOLKS FORGET THE GIPPER WAS ON LIFE SUPPORT AT THAT POINT:

Fred Ain't Dead (Quin Hillyer, 12/14/2007, American Prospect)

Memo to readers: With his superb performance in Wednesday's debate in Iowa, Fred Thompson has made a monkey out of me. By early afternoon on Tuesday, the column that appears below, one which posits that Thompson's presidential campaign might still find a way to win, was ready in exactly the form it appears here. But I thought the column would still remain exactly on target throughout the week, so (for various reasons) I aimed for a Friday release. At the time, I thought that until Thompson began his Iowa bus tour on Monday the 17th, my contention that he "ain't dead" yet would seem noteworthy for its boldness.

Then Thompson ruined it all by so clearly running away with the laurels in Wednesday's debate -- and in particularly Reaganesque fashion. Just as Reagan did at the famous Nashua, N.H. debate in 1980, Thompson used the unfairness of the debate moderator as a foil in a way that justly earned the candidate plaudits as a no-nonsense kind of guy. Now everybody is taking a second look at Thompson's chances. Deservedly so.

But of course a debate performance like that should not have been a surprise. As my column reports, pollster Frank Luntz said even before Wednesday's debates that Thompson was hitting his stride and connecting with audiences at earlier debates.

Because it was his turn, Reagan's loss to GHW Bush in IA was a hammer blow. Had he lost NH as well it would have been over. Fred Thompson, on the other hand, will be a "winner" if he pulls out a top 3 finish in IA after getting in the race so late in a state that rewards organization.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 14, 2007 9:23 PM