Red meat by the chunkful, topped off by a long quasi-conspiratorial rant about the media playing favorites. He’s not so much pro-Fred (although he’s clearly that) as anti-Huck, but either way it’ll help in South Carolina: Don’t think McCain’s not going to be taking on-air beatings too as the primary approaches and the RINO hunt gears up. Afterglow:

As Thompson toured the town of Georgetown, he was enveloped by several well-wishers who cooed over his performance at last night’s debate…

“I mean, I can ‘out’ poorboy any of them. I grew up in more modest circumstances than any of them on that stage,” said Thompson, who was raised in a small Tennessee town. “But I grew up in a free country where I knew if I behaved myself, I had a chance at the American dream.”

Big numbers last night so cross your fingers. Elsewhere, the crack nutroots brain trust plots to restore viability to the only Republican candidate with the money and organization to make life difficult for them next fall.