Playing To Win

John Hawkins is one of the best in the business. It's interesting to see him coming out now for Fred Thompson.

If you're looking for a conservative candidate in 2008 and my former employer and first choice for GOP nominee, Duncan Hunter, isn't your cup of tea, then Fred Dalton Thompson may be your best bet. Here's a primer that will explain why that's the case.

Playing To Win Fred's a Tennessee native who "speaks Southern," has a very minimal amount of baggage, and he'd be almost guaranteed to carry every Southern state. Although most Republicans take those states for granted since Bush carried all of them in 2000 and 2004, it's entirely possible that some of the other top tier candidates, like New Yorker Rudy Giuliani and Massachusetts native Mitt Romney, could lose multiple Southern states to a Democratic nominee.

Additionally, in head-to-head polls against the Democratic contenders, Fred Thompson is defying conventional wisdom and putting up numbers that are roughly comparable to Rudy Guiliani's and far superior to Mitt Romney's in most states. Considering that Rudy has far higher name recognition than Fred Thompson, it seems likely that Thompson has the long-term potential to be a stronger candidate than Giuliani and Romney everywhere except the states that are probably too blue for the GOP to win any way, like New York and Vermont.

Read the whole thing.

Never at a loss for words, Jackie Mason has this to say about Fred