Ouch. This new LAT poll is not good for John McCain. Among Republicans nationally he’s fighting for 3rd place with Mitt Romney down at 12%. (Romney has 10%). Giuliani has 27% and the not-yet-running Fred Thompson is at 21%.
On the Dem side it’s Clinton 33%, Obama 22%, Gore 15%, Edwards (8%). However, Obama does better in the head-to-heads against Republicans than does Hillary.
Here’s a question I have. As the Times article puts it, “Republicans antsy for a conservative standard-bearer in the presidential race have begun to rally behind Fred Thompson.” It’s been widely noted over recent days that Thompson’s pro-life position seems to be of quite recent vintage.
But let’s open the scope of the question up a bit. I remember Fred Thompson from when he was in the senate. And I never thought of him as a down-the-line conservative, at least not relative to the rest of the senate GOP caucus. So aside from the fact that he’s now saying he’s down the line pro-life it really doesn’t surprise me that he had a kinda sorta position on the issue back when he ran for senate in the mid-90s. He always struck me as a bit more of a libertarian type Republican.
Sure, he’s conservative compared to Giuliani on most social issues. And for all his toadying over the last three years too many party Republicans just don’t like McCain. And my point here isn’t to say he’s a ‘moderate’, whatever that might mean. But isn’t issue here that Thompson just looks presentable — in the sense that he can talk the GOP no-nonsense hocum like the best of them — and compared to the crop of jokers on offer, that’s plenty for most ‘conservatives’ to sign on?
