Thompson out:

“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”

No endorsement… yet.

According to Rasmussen.

The real drama in Florida is what will Fred Thompson do. He’s sitting at about 13 percent support. If he drops out and throws the full weight of his backing behind McCain, which I think is highly likely, he could leave his mark on the race as a kingmaker.

I’d look for that endorsement around Thursday.

BTW: Giuliani? In third.

This is a simple observation. But McCain and Hillary owe a debt of gratitude today to Fred Thompson and Bill Richardson.

Thompson, a McCain ally in his Senate tenure, attacked Huckabee in the SC debate, and managed to split the evangelical vote with Hucky… leaving McCain in the victory circle.

The absence of Bill Richardson was arguably the difference maker in Nevada on Saturday. Richardson, who at times in the past months seemed to be running a race for Hillary’s VP, mysteriously cleared out of the presidential race right before Nevada caucuses, where his advantages of geography and ethnicity stood to propel him to his best showing of the early races.

Had he remained in the race, the Hispanic vote would have been more hotly contested, and Obama likely would have emerged the popular vote, as well as the delegate-count, winner in the Silver State.

UPDATE: Huckabee’s camp agrees with me on the Fred Thompson score. From MSNBC:

Former SC Gov. David Beasley, a Huckabee surrogate, railed against Thompson.

“Fred hurt us in South Carolina,” Beasley began. “He had one goal and one goal only — to distort Mike Huckabee’s record so John McCain could pull it out. No ifs, ands or buts about it….

“Thompson came here and just went to the areas where he could gut Huckabee. I have no doubt in my mind, it was Washington politics at its worst.

“One thing about Fred; I love Fred, but Fred’s not stupid….I don’t think he had any intention in South Carolina but to hurt Mike Huckabee…. Had Fred Thompson not been in the race, this would have been an overwhelming, dynamic victory for Mike Huckabee.”

A push poll by the group “Common Sense Issues,” trashing Fred Thompson for the benefit of Mike Huckabee has been caught on tape.

Transcript via TPM:

Q: Does the fact that during his many years in the US Senate Fred Thompson did not make solving America’s illegal immigration problem a priority and by contrast Governor Huckabee has been endorsed by the founder of the Minutemen Citizens patrolling our border for Huckabee’s strong stand against illegal immigration make you more likely to trust Governor Huckabee on the issue of illegal immigration?

Fred Thompson and John McCain are buddies, hell, Thompson was a lazy man’s McCain in the Senate, signing on to campaign finance reform among others of McCain’s pet projects.

And after last night’s wonderful performance, in which he offered a devastating 90 second critique of Mike Huckabee’s big government idealism and liberal foreign policy…

… I’m truly wondering if the sole purpose of his candidacy right now is — and maybe always was — to run interference for McCain in the South.

Seriously, if you’re polling 9 percent. Why go after the guy in second at 18 percent and leave untouched the front-runner at 25 percent?

Fred Thompson losing to write in candidates.

The smart money — not to mention the latest polls — gives an edge to Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in tonight’s Iowa caucuses.

But take a couple hundred thousand Midwesterners, pack them into gyms and libraries and town halls on a frigid Iowa night, add a heaping measure of peer pressure to the equation, and, well, anything can happen.

Here are five unlikely results you that shouldn’t be shocked to see when the final precinct tallies come in:

1) John Edwards Wins Going Away

No one in presidential campaign history has ever worked a state like John Edwards has worked Iowa. No one. But for a brief hiatus for the 2004 general election, Edwards has been campaigning there non-stop since early 2003. He’s answered more questions from more voters at more diners and summer cookouts — in every last corner of the state — than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama combined. (more…)

The latest Zogby poll — a big one with a very low margin of error ( ±1% ) — has troubling numbers for Senator Hillary Clinton.

She’s dropped below all five top Republicans in prospective head-to-head matchups:

Giuliani 43 / Clinton 40
Romney 43 / Clinton 40
Huckabee 44 / Clinton 39
Thompson 44 / Clinton 40
McCain 42 / Clinton 38

The news is somewhat better for Edwards, who is running neck-and-neck with the GOP frontrunners.

Obama, meanwhile, is seen cleaning Republican clock, beating each opponent by at least 5 and more often 7 percent.

This if these numbers keep up they’ll put a major dent in Clinton’s electability cred. They certainly gird Obama’s argument that he’s the one Democrat who can attract open-minded independents and Republicans.

UPDATE: Real questions raised about integrity of this poll.