OUCH: “Almost immediately after the launch of Fred Thompson’s long anticipated presidential candidacy, important neutral Republicans decreed privately that it had crashed and burned on takeoff. Many of these critics had wanted to board the Thompson campaign but were repelled by his ‘gatekeepers.’ That helps explain their attitude now, and not merely because of bruised feelings caused by their exclusion.” I don’t think he’s crashed and burned, but I agree that the campaign has sometimes seemed curiously isolated.

Ann Althouse, however, isn’t so sure about these criticisms: “It’s possible that he knows what he is doing.”

Meanwhile, Wired says: “It’s official: Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson’s media strategy for his campaign launch was a success. Thompson’s web site Fred08.com was the most visited presidential candidate web site last week, according to Hitwise, a Web site traffic and search trends analysis firm.”