Via LGF, they’re making it a roundtable of the big five — or, more precisely, the big four plus Fred. I get the logic: Thompson’s outpolling Paul nationally by 10 points, but (a) this is, ostensibly, keyed to the New Hampshire primary, which Fred gave up on long ago and where Paul actually leads him in most polls, and (b) if Fred flames out in Iowa he may be out of the race by Sunday, in which case they’ll end up giving his seat to Paul anyway.

On the other hand, it’s not like another lecture on how terrorism is America’s fault is going to propel this turd into the lead. I guess it comes down to whether you want a debate that’s useful or a debate where the candidates are represented in proportion to their support. If the former, then why not cut Rudy too? Just make it a two-on-one McCain/Huck vs. Romney death match. Fun for the whole family.

I read somewhere this morning about a Maverick/Huck ticket being floated. How’s that grab you, HA readers, hm? It’s an amnesty wonder team! And in four (or eight) years, when McCain’s done, we’ve got Vice President Lonesome Rhodes as the presumptive nominee. Sign me up.