Trailhead

We will also admit that we had no idea Fred Thompson had endorsed John McCain. Maybe it’s because he released a stealth statement to the Associated Press on a Friday afternoon . That’s what you do when you resign after appearing on some escort-service phone list—not when you’re endorsing a presidential candidate.

McCain could have used a more public blessing, too. The conservative radio mouths calling for his head (Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter) might tone it down a bit if they knew that one-time GOP messiah Fred Thompson was backing him. A message from the ghost of Fred might also have blunted Huckabee's strength among evangelicals. But Fred has always done things his own way. It’s as if he wanted to back a winner but didn’t want to give McCain the satisfaction of a flashbulb handshake.