And The Winner Of The Louisiana Caucus Was ... Fred Thompson?
A very special event happened for the Fred Thompson campaign on Tuesday — besides his official withdrawal from the race, of course. It turns out that after he withdrew via a press release that afternoon, he effectively won something that same night.
National Review reports that the winner of the Louisiana caucuses was an uncommitted slate running under the title of "Pro-Life, Pro-Family," followed by John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. In fact, the organizers of that "Pro-Life, Pro-Family" slate were almost all Thompson supporters who decided to take that name a few weeks ago, when it became a distinct possibility that he would drop out before the caucuses — which he did that very afternoon.
If Thompson had still been in the race, a Louisiana political source explained to NR, his state delegate strength in Louisiana would have been enough to potentially get him all of the state's 47 national delegates. The one big problem, though, is that he dropped out only hours before he finally won something.
Oh, well. As the late, great Hank Williams would say, Fred's victory came just in time to be too late.
Eric, Greg, Josh:
You have to start policing the comment section.
People are posting some vile shit that you do not want associated with the TPM brand.
January 23, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL, this is the most ridiculous assessment I have ever read. Get over your candidates departure and try to pick a contender this time!
January 23, 2008 11:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thompson hadn't been running for a very long time. He was just playing blocker for the GOP leadership to soak up Huckabee's support for a bit. The timing of Fred's drop wasn't a coincidence.
January 23, 2008 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not Fred Thompson supporters, but also McCain, Romney, and Huckbee - they could not field a full slate so they joined together. McCain also had delegates run in multiple slates so that helped him.
So, it was Dr. Paul vs. everyone else....not a bad result for the good doctor.
January 23, 2008 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This article is just idiotic.
January 23, 2008 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
FWIW, I second awrrb's complaint. Perhaps you could consider disemvowelling idiotic comment?
January 23, 2008 11:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fred Thompson was running? LOL
Wait wasn't he the guy laughing at Ron Paul because economics just didn't make sense to him?
January 23, 2008 11:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Geez...dude can't even quit right.
January 23, 2008 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uncommitted is now 2nd in the Republican race... I thought the Dem side was a clusterfuck.
January 24, 2008 12:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Aren't the delegates determined later at a vote of the people selected at the 11 caucus sites? I suspect that Ron Paul won the LA caucuses. Why don't we wait to see who gets the delegates? They're not going to Fred Thompson, so one of the viable candidates will get them.
Vote for Ron Paul! The Federal Reserve and George "The era of big government is back!" Bush got us into this mess, and Ron Paul will get us out of it.
January 24, 2008 12:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
So wait - if Thompson had stayed in, he would have been leading in the delegate count (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#val=R)
Doh!
(And not to rain on TPM's parade, but this move by Thompson puts Rudy in fifth place. He's moving up, according to plan.)
January 24, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now, due to our own stone ignorance in listening to the MSM we have four RINO's left to choose from;
Candidate Research - Know Who You're Voting For ( The Easy Way )
http://candidateresearch.blogspot.com/
January 24, 2008 1:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Looking at the field and the argument that Fred was a firewall vote to prevent Evangelicals to get traction in the election cycle seems conspiratorial, but ignores the organization and money that Fred didn't have. That theory has to be right there along side of Roger Stone was hired by Obama to slander Hillary.
What I'm going to find interesting is the count of votes and possibly delegates that Fred gets from write-ins on Super Tuesday if states do not remove the name from the ballot.
January 24, 2008 7:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Free Republic Opinion Poll: (1/23) If it's McCain vs Hillary in the general, how do you vote?
This is hysterical and Rush is doing more to damage the GOP than these clowns.
This is too damn funny
January 24, 2008 8:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, even with all the shenanigans, the media has been forced to give Ron Paul second in the LA straw poll. You can bet he won the vast majority of delegates and will have all of them by the time they get to their state convention.
Ron Paul 2008!!
January 24, 2008 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jeremy Trudell wrote on January 24, 2008 8:47 AM:
Come back here and search my name, and here is a bet when FL counts are in.
Fred Thompson has more votes than Paul in FL.
Two things to gather from this, you combine the Paul and Fred votes, the Obama opposition to Hillary, and you factor the evangelical/mormon issue, and the hesitancy to support McCain by hardcore GOP, and my bet??
There is a third part run.
But my bet is that Paul gets less votes than Fred, who isn't even running.
January 24, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Paul isn't campaigning in Florida currently, and for good reason. Florida serves one purpose right now, to break Guiliani. This will be fun to watch, whether Mccain or Romney wins won't be the big story, Florida was Guiliani's state!
Look for Rudy to drop out the 30th, as for Paul, he is sneaky and highly intelligent, his campaign is building some serious momentum right now. As the other candidates drop out, look for this field to emerge: Romney & Paul, or at best, Romney, Paul & Mccain.
January 24, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somebody wake Freddie up and tell him the news.
January 25, 2008 6:41 AM | Reply | Permalink