Fred's Last Chance

Rudy Giuliani's campaign is not looking well. He has been damaged by allegations of improprieties regarding the use of government funds on jaunts with his mistress (and the fact he had the affair in the first place). He has lost his position as frontrunner to Mike Huckabee. He hasn't had a really good news cycle in several weeks now.

Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee seem to be engaged in destroying one another's candidacy. Huckabee is trying for the evangelical vote, which he obviously is getting. However, he has virtually no funds, no organization, and no support from conservative commentators. His Arkansas years are filled with allegations of improper gifts, amazingly misguided pardons, and tax hikes. Given that even neutral commentators like Rush Limbaugh heavily criticize him, and that the somewhat more opinionated Laura Ingraham is actively opposed to him, his status as frontrunner is almost certainly shortlived.

Mitt Romney will probably take him down, but Huckabee's counter-attacks may damage his candidacy. It seems likely to be a murder-suicide sort of thing-- Romney will take down Huckabee, but Huckabee's attacks will ruin Romney's chances.

With bad news for Rudy, Mitt, and Huck, there is a narrow opening in the Republican party. This spring, there was another such opening, and Fred Thompson sprang through it. It is possible that he will do the same here. It is not a certainty, perhaps not even a probability, but it would be unwise to count Fred Thompson out.