Having faced a number of poor voting results in early campaigning rounds, former US Senator Fred Thompson has decided to withdraw from the presidential race on Tuesday.

Thompson withdrew his candidacy after having faced a third place result in Saturday's South Carolina primary. This was a crucial win that Thompson hoped to achieve to bolster his campaign. The loss of this state sealed his fate. Having obtained only 16% of the votes from this primary, Thompson found himself running behind John McCain’s 33% and Mike Huckabee’s 30%.

A former senator from Tennessee and star of the hit TV series Law and Order, Thompson entered the race for the White House last September. Though a late entrant, he was able to climb to second place in the national opinion polls that were held subsequently in October. However, his popularity plunged shortly after, as critics began to question his commitment to the job. The former senator’s woes were founded when he failed to win even one in five conservative votes from any of the early primaries and caucuses. Also, support for his candidature was weak amongst white born-again and evangelical Christians. Thompson’s third place finish in Iowa did not make matters better.

As Thompson failed to gain in popularity, his campaign started to face financial constraints. As the losses from his campaign begin to pile up a strategic retreat seemed to be the best option for him. Fellow competitor Mitt Romney commended Fred Thompson’s efforts by stating, “Throughout this campaign, Fred Thompson brought a laudable focus to the challenges confronting our country and the solutions necessary to meet them. He stood for strong conservative ideas and believed strongly in the need to keep our conservative coalition together.”

In the short statement that Thompson released to the press he stated, “I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort.” Thompson’s exit leaves the Republican race wide open ensuring a face off between the remaining contenders at the Florida primary on 29 January.

• McCain's popularity within the Republican Party as the most electable contender has almost tripled. His rating as the strongest leader within the party has doubled. He has won double-digit gains in trust to resolve the Iraq problem and terrorism.


• Mike Huckabee's favorability rating has also risen by 21 points, to 42 percent.


• On the other hand, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani favorability rating has dropped by 4 points and is now 46 percent.


• Fred Thompson's favorability rating too has dropped by 3 points, to 30 percent.


• Mitt Romney's personal favorability rating has shot up by 6 points, to 34 percent.


• Obama's favorability rating has shot up by 12 points, to 63 percent. He now leads male voters, 9 points over Clinton.


• Clinton has gone up by 8 points in her favorability rating, which is now about 58 percent. She now leads women voters by 11 percent over Obama.


• John Edward's favorability rating has similarly risen by 8 points to 57 percent.

While 29 percent voters say that the economy in the US is the most crucial issue facing the country, 20 percent voters believe it is the war in Iraq. Ten percent voters hold health care as the most important issue. 

Hillary Clinton has warned voters not to elect Barack Obama. The reason: Because the Al-Qaeda is watching the US elections. According to Clinton, America could not risk electing an inexperienced candidate as Obama to president as this would exacerbate the threat of a terrorist attack from the Al-Qaida.

Clinton pointed out how, days after Gordon Brown took over as the British Prime Minister, terrorists had planted bombs, which, incidentally failed to go off. She was referring to the two devices, which, however, failed to explode, and the car, which crashed into the Glasgow airport in June 2007.

"I don't think it was by accident that Al-Qaeda decided to test the new prime minister," the New York senator said. "They watch our elections as closely as we do ... they play our allies," she added, quite evidently attempting to playing on the issue of national security to her advantage. With Obama predicted to deal her a second defeat at the New Hampshire primary, to follow on the earlier one at Iowa, Clinton's move could reflect her desperation.

"Let's not forget, you are hiring a president not just to do what a candidate says he or she will do in an election," Hillary Clinton said, adding "You are hiring a president who will be here when the chips are down, and problems pile up, because that's when you really need somebody who knows exactly what has to be done, to make the tough decisions."

"I hope I don't face any of those in my first 100 days, but if I do, I think I will be ready," Clinton said, in a reference to her long career in US public life. On the other hand, Obama, she argued, was a freshman senator from Illinois who was too much of a novice to serve as US commander in chief.

Obama retorted by questioning Clinton's foreign policy expertise. He referred to Clinton's flawed judgment, regarding her vote during the 2002 Senate authorizing President George W. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq.

Earlier, former president Bill Clinton, referring to the 9/11 tragedy had also argued that the next president of the US would have to be ready for sudden, national security challenges. "You have to have a leader who is strong and commanding and convincing enough ... to deal with the unexpected," he said, adding "There is a better than 50 percent chance that sometime in the first year or 18 months of the next presidency, something will happen that is not being discussed in this campaign."

1. The bill required stringent conditions and applied only to a student who had schooled in Arkansas from the age of five to six years onwards.


2. The student would need to have been an A-plus student, with an exceptional record, who had completed the core-curriculum.


3. He had a drug- and alcohol-free record.


4. He had to apply for citizenship."

However Huckabee was lying. As reported on politifact.com, the original bill only required that the student should have gone to an Arkansas high school for three years and graduated, and that they had to sign an affidavit to the effect that they intended to pursue citizenship.

A point in favor of Ron Paul is the strong support base that he enjoys among libertans. Many of them, who reject the other leading Republican candidates, have been only too happy to rally to his support. Besides, Paul's integrity, when he opposes issues such as a national ID card, and his pledge to end the IRS may go down well with the electorate.

However, Romney's allegation against McCain may spur a debate regarding his own stand on the tax cuts. According to the Boston Globe, when Romney had been asked about the tax cuts, he had indicated that he did not agree with them. It was only subsequently that he supported the tax reductions, saying that they should be made permanent before 2011.

• For instance, in 1994, during his earlier, unsuccessful run for Massachusetts governor against Democrat Ted Kennedy, Romney projected himself as being committed to a pro-choice policy. Subsequently, in 2002, while running again for Massachusetts governor, Romney remained an ardent supporter of women's right to choose. But later Romney changed his position. He now calls for doing away with the Roe v. Wade ruling that would allow individual states to define their own abortion policies.
  
  


• Romney similarly reversed his reformist views with regard to gay rights. After declaring himself staunchly in support of equal rights for gays in 1994—a position he retained even in 2002—he suddenly changed his stance and declared marriage out of bounds for gay couples.
  
  


• Another issue is federal funding for stem cell research. In 2005, Romney held a position that favored state sponsored embryonic stem cell research, saying, "I believe stem cell research is important for our state and for our nation." However, he subsequently shifted to a more conservative stance, and opposed funding for research involving embryonic stem cells.

The ideal candidate for the post of president will be a leader who can take tough decisions. For this, he would need to have a sense of strong internal values. More importantly, he would need to have the mettle required to stand his ground. Such strong leadership is even more important today, when one considers the threats facing America. Romney may be a capable executive with the ability to get work done quickly. However, his compulsive flip flopping has proven that he lacks the moral fiber required to steer the nation during these difficult times.