Well, we have our first set of polls with Fred Thompson in the race. What happens?

First, Rudy Giuliani loses a lot of support to Thompson. That is a surprise, but not entirely. I suspect that these are the people who like Rudy, don’t like McCain so much and want someone more conservative. I mentioned this kind of possibility when looking at a recent Michigan poll.

Second, as predicted, the rationale for a Mitt Romney campaign becomes harder, because Thompson matches Romney except in places where Romney has specific advantages (more than 2/3rds of New Hampshire is in the Boston media market and Romney has a summer home up there…) So now Romney is tied with Thompson in Ohio and losing to him in Iowa, without any campaigning. (the vaunted Romney Iowa operation — I was in Iowa and impressed — must be freaking out)


Soren Dayton

Soren Dayton is an advocacy professional in Washington, DC who has worked in policy, politics, and in human rights, including in India. Soren grew up in Chicago.

1 Comment

Bluey Blog | Robert B. Bluey » Romney Supporters Have Buyer’s Remorse · April 2, 2007 at 1:51 PM

[…] Robert Novak has an excellent column today about Fred Thompson, who has surged into third place in opinion polls, ahead of both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, who have typically occupied that spot. Thompson’s strong performance appears to be harming Romney most, but right now he’s pulling from everywhere. […]

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