Former Sen. Fred Thompson today called it quits from a presidential campaign which he undertook with all of the enthusiasm of a small child being forced to eat his peas, strengthening the surging campaign of John McCain. Meanwhile that pesky Ralph Nader is making noise about joining the campaign at this late juncture.

Thompson's departure wasn't a shock. The former actor and lawyer proved to be a surprisingly inept campaigner. In one memorable moment chronicled on YouTube, Thompson even had to ask a crowd in for a round of applause. He didn't endorse any of his former rivals.

This creates an opening that McCain can exploit. Mike Huckabee is a likable enough guy, but many people will think twice before voting for a social conservative. As for Mitt Romney, on paper he is an ideal candidate for fiscal conservatives. The trouble is that the former Massachusetts governor has made one gaffe after another, including speaking about a lifelong love of hunting that had come from the two times he actually did it.

The pressure is now on McCain to prove that he is the true heir to Ronald Reagan, who as Paul Krugman recently pointed out, may not be the best economic role model. If that's the best that the GOP has got, the party may be in for an even bigger disaster than George F. Will is imagining. Indeed, during last night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards all bragged about how polling suggests that they would be able to win a general election. But as they all pointed out, that's not saying much.

Unless President Bush's economic stimulus package has a magic wand in it, I don't see how the Democrats can not win the White House.

By the way, Nader might want to think long and hard about entering the race. Many Democrats still haven't forgiven him for siphoning off votes from Al Gore in 2000 which...well I don't have to tell you the rest of the story.