Tommy Thompson Calls It Quits

Last week, Tommy Thompson announced that if he didn't finish first or second in Ames, he would end his presidential campaign. On Sunday, after having come in sixth, the former Wisconsin governor promptly did as promised.

Happily, he did so gracefully rather than as a sore loser: "I respect the decision of the voters," he said.

For the record, while I thought Thompson's campaign was embarrassing, he had a proven record and the right ideas on welfare reform and school choice.

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Ames: Instant Analysis

As expected, Romney wins, and does so by a healthy margin, which will sustain his momentum.

Huckabee's second-place finish is the story of the night, especially because he didn't have any buses, and will inject some much-needed adrenaline into his fund-raising.

Brownback spent heavily here, so barely coming in third is a major disappointment.

As promised, Tommy Thompson will drop out (finally!). Duncan Hunter should follow suit.

Update (8/13/07): Ryan Sager has trouble expressing his opinion:

The face of the Republican Party in Iowa is the face of a losing party, full of hatred toward immigrants, lust for government subsidies, and the demand that any Republican seeking the office of the presidency acknowledge that he's little more than Jesus Christ's running mate. The pandering from the stage told the story. Mr. Romney promised not a chicken in every pot, but "a button on every computer" for parents to block obscene material. Anti-immigrant ranter Tom Tancredo nearly brought the house down decrying the fact that Americans sometimes have to "Press 1" for English. Mr. Huckabee earned his second-place finish in part by making the specious claim that farm subsidies safeguard America's food independence. (You think it's bad depending on foreign oil, Mr. Huckabee asked? "Wait until our country messes up and has to depend on foreign food.") Senator Brownback of Kansas, the third-place finisher, declared as he often does in his stump speech: "All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus."

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The Daily Digest

The Thompson tsunami has begun. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who's been backing Mitt Romney, announced yesterday that she will defect to Fred Thompson (when, not if, he announces). (On the other hand, Ted Welch, a Tennessee-based fund-raiser for Thompson who's supporting Mitt Romney, has indicated he intends to stay put.)

NR senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru likes to kvetch about his fellow right-wingers. He does so not as a gadfly but because he's sincere. In January 2006, he argued that earmark reform, a newfound pet cause among conservatives, is largely symbolic and its effects on spending negligible. Recently, he elaborated, prompting a counter op-ed from porkbuster in chief, Senator Tom Coburn. The exchange was civil and reasoned, but, as Dave Weigel notes, Ponnuru is more convincing.

Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry, both of the Personal Democracy Forum, champion the rise of the "netizen," or citizens whom the Internet empowers.

Continuing to debase himself, Tommy Thompson campaigns to an audience of seven.

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Making Reagan Proud

Here are some of the better responses on taxes from tonight's debate (via Americans for Tax Reform):

Huckabee was (surprisingly) the most ambitious: "[T]inkering . . . doesn’t work. I would work for the fair tax, which meets the four criteria: Flatter, fairer, finite, and family-friendly. We’d get rid of the IRS. We’d get rid of all capital gains, income, corporate, and we’d have a consumption tax. The fair tax proposal I believe offers the best opportunity for all levels of Americans."

Tommy Thompson (who was otherwise unimpressive) also advocated a "flat tax," while McCain promised a "simple, flatter, fairer tax so that Americans don’t have to spend $140 billion as they just did last April to prepare their tax returns."

Romney proposed an end to taxing "interest, dividends, or capital gains," and Tancredo (finally) came alive by zinging his colleagues: "You can veto all the spending bills you want, you will not touch the deficit until you actually deal with the structural problem of mandatory spending. That’s where all the money is. You can veto every one of the bills that come to you as discretionary funding, including the military if you want. It, is in, fact mandatory spending that has to be dealt with."

Update (5/8): Here's the full transcript.

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Why I Like Tommy Thompson

If I were a columnist today, I'd write a column apiece about the presidential candidates. I'd follow them on the campaign trail to gain both a sense of who they are and specifics about their platforms.

George Will, a columnist par excellence, seems to be doing something similar. Here's his take on Duncan Hunter (from February), on Giuliani, Romney and McCain (March), on Fred Thompson (April), and, now, on the other Thompson—you know, the one who rides a Harley and served four terms as Wisconsin's governor and four years as secretary of health and human services, where he presided over a $580 billion budget, which is larger than the combined budgets of the eight largest states.

Will makes three main points. Looking backward, Thompson achieved extraordinary success on welfare reform and school choice. Going forward, Thompson wants the Iraqis to vote on whether U.S. troops should remain there. In the present, Thompson says he can win the crucial 27 electoral votes in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota combined.

If I were a journalist today, I'd spend more time covering people like this than scrutinizing the death out of the front-runners' every yawn and wristwatch-check.

Update (4/27): Time's Joe Klein, another columnist par excellence, takes on John Edwards, and comes away impressed that Mr. $400 Haircut possesses the two "qualities I most value in a politician: self-deprecating humor and real courage."

Update (4/27): A freelancer for the New Republic calls to our attention something George Will neglected: "As governor, Thompson racked up a reckless spending record and left residents with a $3.5 billion deficit."

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