Just got off the line with someone close to the Thompson campaign—and, more to the point, to Thompson himself. His reading of what took place tonight? Fred Thompson was riled.
“Nothing ever upset Fred Thompson more than the story [on the day of the Iowa caucuses] that he was considering dropping out to endorse McCain.” Thompson, my friend explained, has a kind of Reagan-like innocence about him. He can’t understand why anyone would circulate such a rumor–or how the rumor has remained alive. “He’s just not the sort of person who would drop out. He likes John McCain, always has. But endorse McCain? Are you kidding? He took a swipe at McCain tonight. Didn’t everybody see that? That’s not how you get to be somebody’s running mate. Anyway, the idea that Fred is the kind of person who would run for vice president is just absurd.”