Missed this on Friday. Dobson’s given Rudy the kiss of death and McCain’s finished himself off with the amnesty bill, so unless Fred’s worried about Mitt I’m not sure why he isn’t willing to wait until summer. Maybe he’s worried about the primary schedule: Illinois’s set to become the latest state to move up to February 5 (to help Obama), so time’s a-wasting. As my Daddy used to say.

Perhaps the most interesting release we received last night on the immigration bill was from Fred Thompson’s office. Said the candidate-in-waiting: “We should scrap this bill and the whole debate until we can convince the American people that we have secured the borders or at least have made great headway.” The simple act of sending the release signals a likelihood that Thompson is already acting like a candidate. There are now all sorts of organizational rumors floating around (from an exploratory announcement being imminent to key hires coming on board). The Thompson-for-president campaign is no longer months away — instead think weeks, maybe days…

Update: Actually, yeah, maybe Fred is worried about Mitt.