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Great video, love the Reagan quotes at the beginning and you can’t beat Fmr Sen. Fred Thompson as the narrator.

Via Hotline On Call:

McLean, VA - Senator Fred Thompson today issued the following statement about his campaign for President:

“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.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

I can’t say I didn’t expect this after the South Carolina results but, I can understand it. I am not upset that he dropped. I wish that more people would have come to believe in his vision and ability but, he wasn’t a 21st century campaigner.

I don’t think that anyone who pulls for a candidate that is behind in the polls is a failure. When I posted about Fred Thompson it was not attempt to predict the winner, it was an effort to support the candidate I believe would do the best job leading this nation. I am neither a pollster nor a bandwagoner, if you want to know who is going to win so you can vote for them, look elsewhere.

I believe the primary is about supporting the candidate who stands up for the best ideas, the ideas that have made this country great. Fred Thompson did the best job of supporting those ideas in the past and had solid policy proposals to do so in the future. Every vote for Fred Thompson was a demostration of support for those ideas. That is how I see the primary, it’s an opportunity to support the candidate that represents what you believe in the best manner possible, no matter who is ahead in the polls. I do believe “my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort”.

You won’t see bitterness here, Fred stood up for what he believed, I still believe in conservative principles and there is no point in constantly saying “Fred would have or Fred might have”. What is important now is what the conservative candidate will do and what we will do as Republicans. The way we vote in the rest of the primaries is the way to communicate that, regardless of the poll standings of any of the remaining candidates.

Our apologies go out to our readers who have been unable to access Gop3.com this afternoon and evening. Our servers were unable to handle the huge influx of traffic yesterday downloading Daniel’s brief on Justice Butler and the response I got to my post on the 4 Sure Signs of a Fred Thompson Surge after it was linked by fred08.com and many other sites. We have upgraded our servers and our hosting company assures us we will have no more problems so, bring it on!

1. Statistical Tie for 2nd in the South Carolina Polls

From the latest Rasmussen poll in South Carolina where Fred is in a statistical tie for 2nd place:

Over the past several days, the only real movement in South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary has been a four-point gain for Fred Thompson and a five-point decline for Mike Huckabee.

2. Fundraising Goals Surpassed Three Times in a Row
The Friends of Fred (all 13,000+ and counting new ones) have been donating in record numbers, crushing every goal the campaign sets for them:

UPDATE II: We crossed the $1 million mark. We started filling the red truck Friday, January 4. So give or take a few hours we’ve averaged $100,000/day. We set three goals, and you met every one. With your gifts you have given Fred the resources he needs to convey is conservative message. Be proud of your accomplishment.

3. Website Traffic Velocity
Here is a graph (click to enlarge) of the amount of attention each GOP Candidates’ website is getting. Notice Fred08.com is number two. Rudy, Romney and Huckabee have all peaked. This directly translates into donations and new voters.

4. McCain is being booed by conservatives in Michigan (twice) and Fred just started his new ad buy in South Carolina

McCain Booed in Michigan:

Fred Thompson’s new ad “Always”:

Fred Thompson had a resounding victory this evening and is absolutely on fire. Here is a round up from around the blogosphere and the video highlights are below.

Fred takes on Huckabee:

Friend comments on the recent Navy-Iran incident:

More to come as the highlights are loaded onto YouTube.

UPDATE: The right side of the blogosphere has spoken.