Fred Thompson, Alan Keyes and Duncan Hunter’s names will not be removed from the Republican primary ballot in New York City, despite an effort by some Board of Elections commissioners in Albany on Friday, and despite the fact that the county boards may take them off.

As I reported then, the state Republican Board of Elections commissioners voted to remove those three candidates, but Democratic commissioners did not vote. When the city Board of Elections voted, they were split evenly along party lines. At the time, there was some question as to what would happen to the city ballots, or if the vote was even valid.

“Ballots are going out as is,” said city Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Vasquez. “According to Commissioner Kellner [co-chair of the state Board of Elections], they never met, so that in and of itself would make the action invalid."  read more »

From the AP:

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States.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," Thompson said in a statement.

It's true that Rudy Giuliani hasn't seriously contested any of the first five primary and caucus states (at least not since he dropped $2 million on television ads in New Hampshire) and that he has long touted Florida, which will vote on January 29, as his campaign's first true test.

Still, it's noteworthy just how awfully Rudy has fared in the lead-off contests. Last night, he finished with 2 percent of the vote in South Carolina, a state where he'd been running near the top of polls just a few months ago. And yesterday afternoon, he won just 1,910 votes in Nevada -- good for four percent.  read more »

Fred Thompson toyed with the media and won himself about 10 minutes of free and unfiltered national television airtime. The former Tennessee senator is on pace to finish a distant third or fourth place in South Carolina and his campaign hinted to the media that he might drop out on the spot (and possibly endorse old friend John McCain) when he addressed his supporters just before 8:00. But in an unusually chipper speech, Thompson made no reference to his poor showing or to his immediate future plans. “Stand strong!” he chanted to supporters at the end of his address.

Still, it’s impossible to imagine anyone taking Thompson seriously if he opts to press ahead. He bypassed all of the early primaries and caucuses (save for a half-hearted effort in Iowa) and had been promising to make a breakthrough in South Carolina, where he devoted most of his time and money. But he has finished in the middle of the pack. That pretty much ensures that he won’t be much of a factor in Florida, the next test, or on February 5, when about two dozen states will head to the polls.

Fred Thompson may not have said it tonight, but his campaign is probably over now.

Afterward, he caught an overnight flight on the Hucka-plane to New Hampshire, where, around dawn, he filed a story for Good Morning America.

That evening, he was back in front of the cameras yet again, this time from Henniker, N.H., reporting on Mr. Huckabee for ABC World News With Charles Gibson.  read more »

Officially, victory in Michigan belongs to Mitt Romney. But for all practical purposes, tonight’s result is a win for every candidate in the race not named John McCain.

McCain came into Michigan in the same position Romney was two weeks ago. Back then, Romney was poised to score lead-off victories in both Iowa and New Hampshire, a one-two punch that would have sent the G.O.P.’s establishment masses—voters who have mixed feelings about all of the candidates and who have been content to wait for one to claim the mantle of inevitability—rushing into his camp, while marginalizing his opponents. But then Romney fell short in those states, and McCain inherited is spot as the would be-inevitable candidate.

The combination of Romney’s twin losses and McCain’s New Hampshire victory sent McCain’s poll numbers soaring, both in the next wave of primary states and in national polls. The Republican rank-and-file seemed to be signaling its willingness to rally behind him if he could maintain his momentum. That is why Michigan was so crucial to him: A win would have eliminated Romney and made follow-up McCain wins in South Carolina, Florida and in the big states on February 5 even more likely.

More after the jump.  read more »

It’s true that this year’s Republican presidential race is the most fluid on record. At varying points, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have all seemed to be plausible front-runners.

But by Tuesday night, after the results from what is only the third major contest of the nominating season are tallied, the race may be close to over—or it will be more jumbled than ever.  read more »

The Fox News debate is underway and Ron Paul is nowhere to be found.

The broadcast began without an explanation for his exclusion and comes after a week of stonewalling by Fox, which refused to answer questions from the news media, the Paul campaign and even the New Hampshire Republican Party, which withdrew its sponsorship of the debate yesterday when it became clear that Paul would be left out.  read more »

After playing his usual punching bag role in last night's Republican debate, Ron Paul found himself surrounded by his most devoted and fervent friends on Sunday afternoon.

The occasion was Paul's keynote address at the annual convention of the Free State Project, a group of libertarians who are essentially trying to colonize New Hampshire. The group's goal is to convince 20,000 people to move to the state within five years. Others have pledged to follow the initial settlers if the 20,000 threshold is met.

Paul, whose was preceded at the podium by the President of the John Birch Society, entered to a raucous standing ovation and spoke for about 45 minutes.  read more »

Twenty years ago, Bob Dole slipped up in a debate on the Saturday night before the New Hampshire primary -- he refused to sign a "no new taxes" pledge -- and saw the momentum from his Iowa triumph promptly fizzle out, handing a campaign-saving come-from-behind victory to George H.W. Bush.

Mitt Romney, whose once overwhelming New Hampshire support is collapsing in the wake of his poor Iowa showing, entered tonight's debate in dire need of a similar stumble by John McCain, whose resurgent candidacy could extinguish Romney's with a victory in three nights.

He didn't get it.  read more »