Noche decisiva para Fred

Ya se empieza a dejar caer desde el entorno del candidato Fred Thompson lo que era un secreto a voces: la posibilidad de una retirada después del Caucus de esta noche. Un tercer puesto es la marca que se fijan para hoy. La condición para seguir adelante. De no conseguirlo, el ex Senador por Tennessee podría plantearse la retirada en los próximos días, y todos dan por hecho que, de ser así, terminaría ofreciendo su apoyo al Senador John McCain, cuya primera campaña presidencial ya apoyó en el año 2000. Fred Thompson may drop out

(...) Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.

Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured.

(...) Thompson’s departure could shake up the race more than his continued presence. Friends and advisers said they have long considered it likely that if the lobbyist-actor is forced from the race he would endorse John McCain his former Senate colleague who lately has been staging a political revival in New Hampshire.

“Without a solid third-place finish, there’s no point in going on,” a Thompson adviser said Wednesday. “It was an honorable race, and he turned out to be a good candidate. The moment had just passed.” (...)