It must be galling to the other two GOP front-runners that all Fred Thompson had to do is talk about “testing the waters” about a presidential run back in early summer to zoom to the top of the credible national polling.  Just as it had to be a relief to them that Fred didn’t take the plunge back then, and caused even greater consternation by zooming back to the top when he did finally announce a month ago.

With Ready Freddie “taking cuts,” as it were, you would think that Mitt Romney, at the very least, would be taking “primary” aim at him in order to have the conservative decks cleared for a final showdown with Rudy Giuliani.  I mean, Romney’s reputation is as a brilliant problem-solver and business whiz, right?  So you’d think that he, of all people, would not go for the jugular of the perceived top guy without securing his right flank, correct?

You’d think wrong, dude.  And while Romney arguably landed some blows on “America’s Mayor” as to who was more economically conservative, though certainly nothing close to a haymaker, Rudy’s shop didn’t just sit there and take it.  I’d say they gave as good as they got (which is another way of saying that both men had to govern left of Republican center because they led vastly left of center civic entities).  This was bad for Romney, both because he’s behind Rudy AND Fred nationally, and because Team Giuliani did a nice bit of work bloodying Mitt without FDT having to so much as open his mouth.

Which makes this Ed-cited development all the more intriguing:

Mitt Romney still leads in Iowa but Fred Thompson, a relative newcomer to the presidential race, has emerged as his nearest competitor in a new Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus participants.

Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani are in a close fight for third place in the Iowa Poll taken over three days last week. …

Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who officially entered the race for the Republican nomination a month ago, grabs second place in the new poll at 18%. The poll was conducted while he was finishing his second campaign trip to Iowa last week.

Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who demonstrated surprising strength in the Iowa Republican Party’s straw poll in August, has moved up in the pack by claiming the support of 12% of likely caucus participants.

Romney has all but lived in Iowa (and New Hampshire) 24/7 all year in order to fulfill his strategy of using early primary/caucus victories to trampoline himself into perceived “inevitability”.  It’s not usually a GOP strategy because of the party’s tradition of succession, with seemingly each cycle being somebody else’s “turn” (the mindset that gave us Bob [shudder] Dole in 1996), but with that mentality on the other side of the aisle for a change, the ‘08 Republican race is genuinely wide open, and given to such a logical plan of attack.

There is, however, a sports metaphor that may be applying itself in Iowa: “peaking too soon”.  With the public clearly less than enthused about the ever-lengthening presidential pre-season, it may be Fred Thompson who has executed an “end-around” play by eschewing what may turn out to have been eight extraneous months and entering the race when its relevance is actually beginning to kick in.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.  Thompson has enjoyed a small national lead over the past month, but national primary polling is largely an abstraction.  Here now is evidence of the strength of a candidate who has visited the Hawkeye state - what, twice? - skipped the vaunted Ames Straw Poll back in August, and yet is within a ten-spot of Mitt “I bleed ethanol” Romney a full three months before the Iowa Caucuses.

Those are three months in, which, of course, Fred could fall flat on his face, starting at tomorrow’s latest GOP group hug.  But if I had a warehouse full of Tums and two places to ship it, I’d be sending it to Team Romney, along with a sober recommendation that Mitt start recognizing who the true top guy in this race really is, and directing his fire accordingly.

Something tells me that particular business will be picking up significantly forty-eight hours from now.

If anybody lacked a textbook, real-life example of a “Kiss My Ass” moment, Ali Dickbar al-Durbini provided one, right there on the Senate floor.

Our online correspondent George Merideth called our attention to an NBC News poll purporting to show that six out of every seven Americans surveyed “believe in God.”  But that says a lot less about the spritual condition of the American public than it sounds; after all, even the devil “believes in God”; he also happens to believe that he can do a better job, and has been trying to overthrow Him ever since.  Quite a few of his disciples across the fruited plain “believe” similarly, even if they’re not fully conscious of it.

*** WELCOME MICHELLE MALKIN READERS ***

SUNDAY NIGHT ON THE ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW

The Folsom Street Fair.

Code Pink defaces Berkeley military recruitment office.

Oakland Airport quarantines Marines.

San Francisco tries to ban handguns.

San Francisco kills JROTC program and tries to turn away the Blue Angels from participating in the annual Fleet Week.

Hollywood pushes homosexuality, promiscuity, anti-war movies, Bush-hating documentaries.

Same sex marriages. Sanctuary cities.

What’s the matter with California? That’s what author and investigative journalist Jack Cashill wants to know.

So does Florida Congressman John Mica, who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Mica says this is not the first time it has happened at Oakland, and he is calling for an official investigation.

Sunday night, we’ll talk with both Cashill and Rep. Mica about the Banana Republic of California. California Congressman and presidential candidate Duncan Hunter has been invited to weigh in with his opinion too.
We also invited Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to join us. The only one who replied was Pelosi. And wait til you hear what she said.

***

Last month, several Mattel toys were recalled after it was discovered that lead paint was used on toy cars and that action figures and some dolls contained small magnets that could be swallowed. Wal-Mart pulled Chinese-made binders and pet products from their shelves because of safety concerns. Toothpaste. Cribs. Thousands of China-made items recalled.

If it’s made in China, the mayor of Palm Bay, Florida doesn’t want it. We owe China over $260 trillion. Are we selling them the rope they’ll use to hang us? Mayor John Mazziotti tells us what he thinks.

***

THE ANDREA SHEA-KING SHOW
Sunday, 9 PM EST, Orlando, Florida
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To participate in Andrea’s “live” in-show chat room, click here. In the upper right hand corner, click “enter chat room”. Once the chat room launches, click the “guest” box at the top, then type in the screen name that you’ll be using.

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See you Sunday night!

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