The White Stuff?

At 71, it seems to me, that might make sense. But Matthew Continetti is dismissive:

"To me, this sounds a little too much like Bob Dole taking the gloves off and giving up his Senate seat during the 1996 election -- a bold move that did nothing but set him on the road to Doritos and Viagra commercials. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work!"

Here's something no other presidential candidate can claim, under the New York Post headline "MOB WANTED TO WHACK RUDY":

"The bosses of New York's five Mafia families in the mid-1980s came a hair-trigger away from sanctioning a hit on then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, according to bombshell FBI records made public today.

"Before cooler heads prevailed -- the mob bosses decided by a razor-thin 3-to-2 margin not to try to whack the future mayor and presidential candidate -- at least two of the dons argued fervently that the mob-busting U.S. attorney should sleep with the fishes."

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder parses the latest LAT poll:

"Giuliani still sports a double-digit lead over Fred Thompson, but his support is soft, the party seems confused, and Republicans seem to be growing more anxious about his moral issue liberalism.

"34% of those surveyed agreed that social conservatives would be within their rights to run a third party candidate if the GOP nominated a candidate who supported abortion rights and gay rights. Paradoxically, a quarter of that 34% say they support Giuliani today.

"Abortion is a bigger issue than gay rights; less than half of Republican oppose civil unions (although most oppose gay marriage).

"Fred Thompson's support among 'white fundamentalists' seems to be growing; that's the only discernable category in which he leads Giuliani, who still retains the support of pluralities of Republican Catholics and self-defined members of the 'Religious Right.'

"Giuliani is much stronger among men than he is among women -- he received 36% of the male vote in this sample and 27% of the women's vote."

For months, Thompson wasn't a candidate. Now that he is a candidate, is it possible that he won't be a candidate in New Hampshire? And if that's the case, what kind of candidate is he?