Washington Post has the story.

Red State and Malkin reaction.

Former Senator Fred Thompson who entered the Republican race with high expectations has announced he will end his bid.

“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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.”

84% REPUBLICANS: SOUTH CAROLINA…

MCCAIN… 33%
HUCKABEE… 29%
THOMPSON… 16%
ROMNEY… 15%
PAUL… 4%
GIULIANI… 2%

TechTags Plugin [ Mitt Romney | Ron Paul | John McCain | Fred Thompson | Mike Huckabee | Rudy Giuliani | South Carolina ]

ABC News is reporting early exit polls suggest that McCain & Huckabee are in the running for first place in South Carolina with Romney and Thompson competing for third.

Update: MSNBC is reporting 58% of respondents in SC identified themselves as evangelicals.

Full South Carolina exit poll results.

TechTags Plugin [ South Carolina primary | Mike Huckabee | John McCain | Fred Thompson | Mitt Romney | South Carolina exit poll | evangelical ]

From Bloomberg:

In the last week before its Jan. 19 primary, the Palmetto State is awash in stealth e-mail attacks, fake polling calls and other dirty tricks reminiscent of the scurrilous rumors that scuttled John McCain’s candidacy in 2000.

The dubious tradition stretches back to native son Lee Atwater, the Republican operative who invented many of the modern techniques of negative campaigning, including the 1988 ad that linked Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Dukakis to the parole of murderer Willie Horton and contributed to the victory of President George H.W. Bush that year.

“Many understudies of Lee Atwater are still in this state, in the political-consulting business,” said Blease Graham, a scholar of Southern politics at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

Among Republicans, the shenanigans this year include automated telephone pseudo-surveys trashing former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson’s stance on abortion, mailings claiming Arizona Senator McCain turned his back on fellow prisoners of war in Vietnam and a phony Christmas card from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney extolling polygamy.

With anti-mormon Christmas cars hitting Romney to calls against Thompson saying he voted for abortion and gay marriage while in the Senate, dirty tricks seem to be taking hold in SC. Will it matter? Is it as bad now as its been in the past?

Fred Thompsons spouse, Jeri Thompson, hits Huckabee on MSNBC over his record and questions his conservatism.

You can also check out Jeri taking on John Gibson’s radio program taking on Joe Scarborough’s criticism of her husband.

I am 85% of my way through last nights Republican debate. The remainder is sitting on my TIVO ready to be watched. I did just want to toss in a few thoughts for those who missed it.

#1 - It Was Indeed a Show
FOX News knows how to put on an event. With blinking lights, digital flags, chimes for those who go over their times and a choir the channel knows how to produce television.

#2 - It Was Lively
FOX also knows how to just get to the point and not duck difficult questions. The moderators would go right to the heart of an issue, tear down a persons position and then make them defend it. The moderators never shy away from confrontation, openly courting it and unlike Democratic debates there is no “can’t we all just get along” moments.

#3 - Fred Thompson Woke Up
Thompson is always a mystery to me but he obviously likes being on a stage more than he likes being on the campaign trail. There was no two ways about it, he had Mike Huckabee in his sights and he took every moment he could to trash the guy.

#4 - Huckabee is Darn Likable
Both Thompson and Huckabee put out pretty strong performances. For every long diatribe Thompson would hit Huckabee with, the man always had a response that would warm the crowd back up to him.

#5 - Ronald Reagan
This, like all of the Republican debates thus far was not so much an audition for president as it was a chance to audition for the part of Ronald Reagan. I give credit to John McCain and Ron Paul, they were the only people to mention Republican presidents other than Ronald Reagan that I recall. McCain talked about Teddy Roosevelt, Paul mentioned Taft.

Story from the Associated Press:

The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.

Senator Barack Obama and Former Governor Mike Huckabee were able to go to sleep last night with the knowledge that they were winners and have an avalanch of positive media attention to wake up to. Just kidding, they went to bed last night knowing today marked the beginning of the race for New Hampshire. Woo Hoo! With just a few days to go, a debates ahead for the weekend and what will no doubt become increased media speculation about their overall viability and positions on issues, the race has just begun.

So where do we stand in New Hampshire? These are the latest tracking polls taken before last night. So expect bumps to both Obama & Huckabee in the next polls but this helps us know where the state was just before the vote and in the next couple of days we will know where it stands just after.

Reuters/C-Span/Zogby tracking poll:

For Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads with 32%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 26%, and John Edwards at 20%.

For Republicans, Sen. John McCain leads with 34%, followed by Mitt Romney at 30%, and Mike Huckabee at 10%.

(Hat tip: Political Wire)

7NEWS/Suffolk University

For Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton is ahead of her rivals with 37% support, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 25% and John Edwards at 15%.

For Republicans, Mitt Romney leads with 29%, followed by Sen. John McCain at 25%, Mike Huckabee at 13% and Rudy Giuliani at 9%.

(Hat tip: again Politicalwire)

MUST GET SLEEP Goodnight all

10:50 PM EST - 1732 Precincts Reporting

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA : 37.53%
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS : 29.88%
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON : 29.38%
GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON : 2.11%
SENATOR JOE BIDEN : 0.95%
UNCOMMITTED : 0.13%
SENATOR CHRIS DODD : 0.02%
PRECINCTS REPORTING: 1732 OF 1781
(PERCENTAGES ARE STATE DELEGATE EQUIVALENTS.)

10:17 PM EST - 1700 Precincts Reporting

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA : 37.39%
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS : 29.95%
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON : 29.47%
GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON : 2.12%
SENATOR JOE BIDEN : 0.92%
UNCOMMITTED : 0.12%
SENATOR CHRIS DODD : 0.02%
PRECINCTS REPORTING: 1700 OF 1781
(PERCENTAGES ARE STATE DELEGATE EQUIVALENTS.)

10:03 PM EST - Republicans - 72% Reporting

Mike Huckabee 28,762 34% 0
Mitt Romney 21,213 25% 0
Fred Thompson 11,522 14% 0
John McCain 11,281 13% 0
Ron Paul 8,549 10% 0
Rudy Giuliani 3,053 4% 0
Duncan Hunter 366 0% 0

9:59 PM EST - 1640 Precincts Reporting

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA : 37.15%
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS : 30.00%
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON : 29.61%
GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON : 2.14%
SENATOR JOE BIDEN : 0.95%
UNCOMMITTED : 0.13%
SENATOR CHRIS DODD : 0.03%
PRECINCTS REPORTING: 1640 OF 1781
(PERCENTAGES ARE STATE DELEGATE EQUIVALENTS.)

9:51 PM EST - 1600 Precincts Reporting

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA : 36.98%
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS : 30.05%
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON : 29.75%
GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON : 2.17%
SENATOR JOE BIDEN : 0.92%
UNCOMMITTED : 0.11%
SENATOR CHRIS DODD : 0.03%
PRECINCTS REPORTING: 1600 OF 1781
(PERCENTAGES ARE STATE DELEGATE EQUIVALENTS.)

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