Well, I see that nobody else on the Channel live-blogged (not here, anyway) or called in to hash out yesterday morning’s GOP primary debate in Iowa.

Neither did Commodore Hewitt.  But aside from Mitt Romney’s house-bringer-downer, his bigger-picture summation, I think, captures the state of the GOP race:

Clearly the race has entered a stage where Romney and Giuliani are locked in a tight, compelling contest with Romney holding an advantage in Iowa and New Hampshire that he will hope to use to catapult past the mayor in Florida. Senator Thompson’s fan dance has gotten old, and I suspect skipping this and future debates sours more than entices the electorate. 

That’s always been the risk FDT has run with this approach.  What made his dalliance with running so alluring in the first place - the underwhelming-ness of the in-race Republican top tier - would lose that allure quickly if and when Rudy and/or Romney picked up their games.

Well, Romney’s “Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove” crack at Barack Obama is just the sort of line that had heretofore shown up almost only from the Thompson sidelines.  As long as the latter could continue his one-upsmanship without actually declaring, he could keep stealing the show.  That “honeymoon period” appears to be over.

In retrospect, it looks more and more like Fred should have tossed in his hat a month ago when he had the PR wind at his back.  Now it’s dissipated, and remaining on the sidelines is becoming a liability for him.

I actually downloaded a bunch of Thompson banners and such in anticipation of his candidacy.  I haven’t done anything with them because he hasn’t gotten in.  Not that that is in itself a crippling blow to the FDT machine, but I think it’s symptomatic of what he’ll find if and when he ever does declare, and if that date isn’t awfully soon.