Ground Game

Conservative bloggers have been the biggest boosters of Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign. And why not? His so-called “different kind of campaign” has had most of its few highlights targeted at the Internet, his charisma charms the righty bloggers, and he has a solidly conservative background. They also like Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter, but if conservative bloggers controlled the vote, Fred Thompson would be our next president.

Some conservative blogger reactions to last night's debate:

Erik at Red State declares:

Fred Thompson owned this debate. He owned it. He dominated.

Powerline says the battles were a) Thompson vs. Huckabee, b) McCain vs. Romney and c. Giuliani vs. irrelevance:

Thompson came out swinging at Huckabee, and he landed some good blows -- notably on Huckabee's "blame America first" foreign policy, his stance on taxes, and his immigration policy as governor. Huckabee responded as he often does, with charm and evasion. This approach has worked for him in the past, and it may have worked tonight. But if the voters were paying attention, then an awful lot of traditional South Carolina conservatives had to be much more impressed by Thompson than by Huckabee.

Hot Air posts video of the Luntz polling group I mentioned last night.

Finally, Michelle Malkin agrees that Thompson won the debate but thinks it’s probably too late to matter:

The Luntz focus group on Fox (no sign of that repeat dude) weighed in on Thompson. The majority said he won the debate, but wondered how much it would matter. He has a few diehard supporters, but several more expressed doubts about his viability. He’s entertaining, said one member, but lacks consistency in his performances. Several agreed: “He’s late.”