Romneylan Praetor Hugh Hewitt persists in mischaracterizing the Republican primary campaign as the GOP Finals.  Now, evidently, John Podhoretz has bought into the same conclusion.

Well, a “Fred Thompson enthusiast” I may be.  Convinced that Rudy Giuliani would split the GOP base, that Mitt Romney is too nice and too fresh a right-wing convert to stand a chance of not being summarily garroted by the Clinton Propaganda Machine, whereas Ready Freddie has precisely the Reaganian authenticity, gravitas, and soberly avuncular demeanor to be the toughest Republican nut for Hillary Clinton to crack, I am.  Understand why I am suddenly speaking in Yoda-isms, I do not.

But I can read the polls.  And ever since FDT officially announced a couple of months ago, his standing in the Rasmussen national tracking poll has plunged by a little more than half (a peak of 28% to yesterday’s 13%).  Fred has gone from trading the national lead with Rudy to trying to elbow Romney aside to hold onto distant second.  It appears that Republican primary/caucus voters gain interest in Senator Thompson’s candidacy in inverse proportion to its actual existence.  He may yet rue the day back in early July when his teasing of jumping into the race had his star nearing its apogee, and he got cold feet.  The bloom fell off his rose after that, and though he enjoyed another temporary resurgence two months later, that appears to have long dissipated.

However, I still maintain that the GOP contest is a three-man race.  Why?  Because (1) Giuliani leads by double-digits nationally and in every state that has polling figures other than Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina; (2) Romney leads in Iowa and New Hampshire; and (3) the latest Rasmussen survey in the Palmetto State has Ready Freddie tied for the lead.

If you cherry-pick the criteria, you can make the case that the race is already over and Rudy is in the driver’s seat, or that by the time the primary campaign reaches Florida, it’ll be a two-man contest between Thompson and Romney.  But the available evidence does not substantiate Double-H’s fanciful notion that my guy is already done.

The “Tortoise & Hare” axiom comes to mind.  That may end up rendering the Mittster the (YEEEAAARGGGHHH-less) Howard Dean of 2008.

UPDATE: If this is what Hugh calls, “the black flag unfurling for Mitt,” he’s got a much more elastic definition of enthusiasm than I do.