Thompson Death Throes

Is this it for Fred? Michael Crowley thinks so:

This is what a disaster looks like: Fred Thompson, the former future "savior" of the Republican Party, looking droopy-eyed and jowly in a black leather jacket and tan ten-gallon hat, wandering like some lonesome lost cowboy through the snows of southeastern Iowa in search of voters - and not finding many.

A few minutes earlier, the former U.S. Senator, "Law and Order" star, and would-be conservative hero had emerged from the Smokey Row coffeehouse, where, in his endless search for the only kind of media he can afford - free - he'd sat down with the local newspaper. Otherwise, Smokey Row held at most two dozen largely disinterested patrons. Thompson famously loathes the grip-and-grin side of politics and smiled wanly through his chit-chats. As he staged a handshake with one woman, the photographer had called out, "Look at each other!" Thompson couldn't resist mocking the artificiality of the forced smiling eye contact. "That's the hardest thing in the world to do," he chuckled.

Again, I say this as someone who admires Fred for his views on almost every issue, I don't see much chance for an upsurge here. Possibly if Romney and Huckabee tear each other apart, there may be room for someone to slip in from behind them, but more and more it's looking like McCain, actually, may win that honor and not Fred Thompson. Rudy Giuliani of course is waiting for better ground on which to do battle.

But maybe, just maybe, if Fred Thompson can somehow pick up a third place win here, he will beat expectations and gather enough interest to make things exciting again. But the last two polls show him dropping down into the single digits again. Again, this is a long shot, a dark horse, and any other cliche you can think of.