Maryland for Fred Thompson

35 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
40 Days until the New Hampshire Primary
51 Days until the South Carolina Primary
61 Days until the Florida Primary

• The Politico:
  

  Former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) has died, according to congressional sources. He was 83.

  Hyde served 32 years in the House beginning in 1974, including stints as chairman of the Judiciary and International Relations committees.

• New York Post:
  

  Like a fickle Hollywood actor who maddeningly keeps his own schedule, Fred Thompson finally walked on the set here last night and turned in the performance his long-suffering supporters have yearned for all these months.

  The “Law and Order” star’s positions were more polished than ever. He attacked Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney sharply and effectively.

  And he stayed above the fray when the fights around him got downright nasty.

• David Yepsen, Des Moines Register:
  

  There were three clear winners in Wednesday’s debate among the Republican presidential candidates: John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson.

  All of them helped their candidacies, and they should move up in the polls as a result.

  …

  Thompson hasn’t been in that many debates, so this one was easily his best. He was cool, good-humored and tried to offer some specific answers at times. While other Republican candidates say they want to save money by doing away with things such as the Department of Education, Thompson correctly goes after the big bucks in the debate over the national debt when he says the United States must reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

• race42008.com:
  

  Well Folks, everything FDT has released policy-wise so far has gotten high marks from the right, universally. For the first month, people said Thompson didn’t have any ideas. Well, he is THE candidate with the best (not just my words) policies, and there is more to come. We’ve got respected pundits and analysts calling the other candidates out because FDT is churning out conservative proposal after conservative proposal. It might be worth thinking about.