Getty ImagesNow there are no longer two Thompsons in the GOP race for President. After a poor showing in Saturday's Ames, Iowa GOP Straw Poll, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson dropped out of his long-shot bid for the Presidency. A conservative, who is known for drastically cutting the welfare rolls in Wisconsin during his administration there, Thompson added to the early stages of the GOP Presidential race with his time in the TV debates held thus far. He said last week that he would drop out if he did not place first or second in the Ames Straw Poll. He now plans to return to the private sector.
He was Governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001, when he was tapped by incoming President George W. Bush to serve as the new Health and Human Services secretary. He served in that post until January 2005, when he resigned from serving in the second Bush Administration.
In leaving the race, Thompson leaves eight candidates for the GOP Presidential nomination. It soon will grow to nine again with the likely entry of the other Thompson, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who could enter at any time.
With that said, I would like to rank the GOP race as I believe it stands now. Here it goes:
TOP TIER
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson
MID-TIER
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback
Arizona Senator John McCain
Texas Congressman Ron Paul
Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo
BOTTOM TIER
Wealthy Illinois CPA John Cox
California Congressman Duncan Hunter
No comments:
Post a Comment