Fred Carries On

As of midnight, Thompson and John McCain were in a close race for third-place in the Iowa caucuses. That's good enough for Fred:

"It looks like somebody is going to need to carry a strong, consistent, conservative message and it looks like it ought to be me," Thompson told a cheering crowd of about 200 supporters at a downtown hotel. "I don't know whether it's going to be a definitive third or tied for third, or whatever, but it's pretty clear that we're going to have a ticket to the next dance."

Hopefully Fred's third place finish and prolonged bus tour at the end of December will dispel the rumors that he is not serious about his presidential campaign.