fred_thompson.jpgAccording to Jay Carney, Fred the Lobbyist -- having had his hand forced by Lane Hudson -- is hoping that his reputation for being the wingnut's wingnut will carry him through the primaries:

Rather than build from one Iowa living room at a time, as Romney has, Thompson is trying to follow the Giuliani model -- focus on garnering high numbers in national polls and hypothetical head-to-head matchups with Democrats, thereby creating the impression that he'd be a strong general election candidate. The campaign hopes that once rank and file conservatives in states like Iowa and New Hampshire realize that Thompson is both a) a strong general election candidate, and b) more of a true conservative than either Romney or Giuliani, they will flock to Fred.

Which makes this a bit of a problem:

Ahead of tonight's Republican debate in New Hampshire, Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson is trying to pre-empt attacks on his Senate voting record.

After the Washington Times this a.m. published an article calling Thompson "soft" on immigration, the campaign released a memo calling Thompson "a consistent supporter of conservative immigration proposals." The memo does not mention the Washington Times piece, which called attention to "a series of votes in the 1990s against cracking down on illegal aliens. Those include a 1995 vote against limiting services other than emergency care and public education to illegal aliens — he was one of just six senators to oppose that proposal — and a 1996 vote against creating an employer verification system to help businesses filter out illegal aliens who apply for jobs."

Meanwhile Jim Gilcrist is playing the role of reluctant virgin. How long before the pilgrimage to the border begins in pursuit of that holy grail of the '08 GOP, the Minuteman endorsement?

(On a related note, Hubris Sonic says that McClatchy needs to ratchet down the rhetoric and get a better calculator.)