From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- 9:25 and Brownback finally speaks. A lot different than the last debate when he spoke very early on pre-Ames.

From NBC's Mark Murray   
Hume had a perfect opportunity to turn to Giuliani after Romney hit him on "sanctuary" cities, but the next question went to Brownback.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- Still talking about immigration. Is it any wonder why McCain's moderate position on the topic got him into trouble?

Romney took a thinly veiled shot at Giuliani on the topic. He said the US needs to get rid of magnets, like "sanctuary cities" -- like New York.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- This is a weird break. They are going into a diner where Carl Cameron is doing man in the booth interviews. This really slows the pace.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Instead of the YouTube questions we saw at the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate in July, we're seeing some live questions from Granite Staters at a restaurant.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- Wallace tried to hit McCain on immigration and tried to criticize him for attacking Romney on the issue. McCain said essentially he and Romney had had the same position.

Huckabee defended saying that some people are racist who are in favor of illegal immigration. This went right into Tancredo's hands, who essentially said and to applause, This isn't about disliking people, this is about breaking the law. This also played into Hunter's hands. Hunter said it's not that scraggily fence you see on CNN. "If you get over my fence," he said, "we sign you up for the Olympics right away."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- Wallace hit Romney on immigration for criticizing Giuliani. He even talked about Romney using illegals to mow his front lawn.

Romney said he and Giuliani disagree. And quoted Giuliani from 94 saying he welcomes immigrants. Then FOX threw up Giuliani's actual quote. Giuliani said the quote was not in full context. He added that he told the police to arrest anyone who was illegal.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- First question is about Fred.

HUCKABEE: I gave up my spot on Jay Leno but chose to be here.
PAUL: I welcome him to the race. He will help dilute the vote for my benefit.
MCCAIN: Maybe we're up past his [Thompson's] bed time. People of NH expect him to be here.
(Giuliani seems to be getting a kick out of all of this.)
ROMNEY: Why the hurry? Maybe January or February is better. (We've heard that before from Romney.)
GIULIANI: I like Fred a lot. Called him a good man, said he's done a good job of playing my part on Law and Order, but I personally prefer the real thing. Rudy somehow was able to take that question and be the first to hit the Democrats. He criticized them as needing on the job training.

From NBC's Mark Murray   
Fred Thompson is the first question...

Huckabee makes a crack that he could have been on Leno, but he'd rather be at the debate

Paul quipped that Thompson would dilute the vote.

McCain said, "Maybe we're up past his bedtime."

Romney repeated his earlier joke that Thompson should wait even longer.

Giuliani said Fred has done a good job "playing my part on Law & Order."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- I hope you all at home can hear better than we can in this hockey rink press filing room. But the debate kicks off... slowly with talk of fish on the ice and format.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM, N.H. -- Stumbled on two presidential candidates here in Durham. Earlier, when I pulled up at my creaky inn, who pulled up beside me but Huckabee and team. Turns out they were scoping out the digs for their debate party...

Also, McCain showed up at a bar downtown where I grabbed dinner. He held his pre-debate party there in the basement. Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) introduced him, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) walked in with him and spoke briefly, imploring the crowd that morale is high in Iraq. McCain, who spoke for about 10 minutes, was greeted warmly by the crowd of about 150, some of whom munched on nachos and fried chicken. "It's like coming home," McCain said of New Hampshire. "You are home," one man called out. Cindy McCain, still on crutches, relayed something she said a supporter whispered to her at another stop in the Granite State: "The Mac is back." That was met by huge applause.

McCain also brought up a girl who boasted that she helped raise $60 for the senator. "And Jamie," McCain said, "I certainly wouldn't call you a little jerk."

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Democrats are already dismissing the Petraeus findings -- which are not due for another five days -- while leaving the door open to a compromise with Republicans that would drop a deadline for troop withdrawal.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pointedly referring to the Petraeus testimony as "the Bush report presented by General Petraeus," as opposed to an independent assessment by the top military man in Iraq that has been billed for months now. "Progress is not being made," Pelosi insisted in a Capitol presser this afternoon, no matter how some people might want to "cherry pick" stories of success. "The plural of anecdotes is not data," she added.

But top Senate Dems Harry Reid and Carl Levin have hinted recently that they may be open to putting forward legislation with no end date for withdrawal, thereby putting Pelosi and House Democrats on the spot with core Democrats -- both in Washington and at home -- who would be angry at such a legislative outcome.

Today, Pelosi would only say: "Whether people will go for (something) without a date certain for withdrawal remains to be seen."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
DURHAM,
NH -- Greetings from New Hampshire, where it is a crisp 66 degrees and
sunny. I am on the ground here in the Granite State hours ahead of
tonight's GOP debate. First Read will be liveblogging and keeping tabs
on all the swipes, shots and absences (eh hem, Fred Thompson).

But first a few thoughts on what to look for
and where the Republican field stands right now. The last Republican
debate was a week before the Iowa straw poll, which after our busy
August, feels like a really long time ago. At that debate, you'll
remember, fireworks came off the bat on the issue of abortion --
notably because of Brownback's attacks on Romney. Well, if you saw today's photo of
Brownback's speech here, he won't likely be the center of attention --
not after his disappointing showing in Ames, finishing behind Huckabee, despite the resources he pumped into the straw poll that Giuliani and McCain skipped.

In this debate, the bar is set high for Romney, who leads in the NH polls, owns a home here, and was the governor of neighboring Massachusetts. He has done well for himself so far in these debates, but will he come under attack tonight? Notably absent, of course, will be Fred Thompson, but he will be present on the airwaves (in the form of a new TV ad). Thompson has angered the New Hampshire Republican Party by skipping the debate and will instead appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Behind the scenes, the Romney and Giuliani campaigns have been going after each other hard, particularly on immigration (see "sanctuary city" and "hypocrite"). But will the candidates finally be that sharp face-to-face? So far at these debates, they've acted like best buds. Does that change tonight?

Moreover, this debate and New Hampshire may be most important to McCain, whose epitaph has all but been written by insider politicos. Does he go after front-runners Giuliani and Romney?

From NBC's Ken Strickland
In an effort to "dispel any confusion" about GOP Sen. Craig's intentions to resign from the Senate, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell relayed a conversation he had Craig this morning. 

Craig told McConnell that if he is unable to get the Minnesota court case "disposed of" by September 30th, "it is his intention to resign from the Senate as he express last Saturday."

If Craig is able to have the case "favorably disposed of ... it would be his intention to come back to the Senate and deal with the Ethics Committee case he knows he will have and try to finish his term." Under this scenario, the leader added, "I do not believe he intends to run for re-election."

McConnell repeated his previous view on the matter: "I thought he made the correct decision" to resign. 

From NBC's Doug Adams
In a very moving moment in the Senate, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson (D) took the floor this afternoon for the first time since his brain hemorrhage last December. He was introduced by his fellow South Dakota Sen. John Thune (R).

Johnson spoke for about five minutes. His speech is still a bit garbled, but very understandable. "It must already be clear to you that my speech is not 100%," he said. "My doctors tell me that it will get there. But my thoughts are clear and my mind is sharp. And I'm here to be a voice for South Dakota in the Senate."

Johnson said his will to fight for the people of South Dakota was strong, and "my ability to think is paramount. So I hope now as I return to my office people focus on my work more quickly than I walk these days." He ended with this: "Today, my work begins anew. I relish the task. It's great to be home. Thank you."

At the end of his speech, Johnson teared up as the Senate gave him a long and emotional standing ovation. He cried again when Majority Leader Harry Reid gave him a tribute immediately afterwards and acknowledged his wife Barbara.

From NBC's Mark Murray
In advance of next week's Petraeus report on Iraq, Edwards held a conference call with reporters to insist that Congress measure progress there on this one question and nothing else: "Has there been serious progress to a political solution?"

"The answer to that is no," he said in answering his own question.

Edwards said, as he's done in the past, that Congress should pass the next Iraq spending bill only with a timetable for withdrawal attached. And if Bush should veto that legislation, Congress should keep re-submitting the same bill. "It is time for the Congress to end this," he said. "It's time for the Congress to stand its ground."

From NBC's Mark Murray

Booking photo of Norman Hsu.

Norman Hsu, the Democratic donor and Clinton bundler whose grand-theft charge in the 1990s forced the Clinton campaign and others to donate his contributions to charity, skipped a bail hearing on a grand-theft charge dating to the early 1990s, prompting a judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

The surprise development ... came this morning in a San Mateo County, Calif., courtroom where Mr. Hsu had been scheduled to surrender his passport and await other proceedings in his case after turning himself in Friday and being jailed briefly before posting a $2 million bond.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
A senior Republican aide says talk of Sen. Larry Craig reconsidering his decision to resign "is moot," suggesting there is no way Craig can get his case settled by the courts or the Senate Ethics Committee in three and a half weeks.

The aide was referring to the statement from Craig spokesman Dan Whiting, who said, "Sen. Craig intends to resign on September 30th. However, he is fighting these charges, and should he be cleared before then, he may, and I emphasize may, not resign." 

The aide said that the ethics investigation of Senator Bob Packwood in the 1990s dragged on for months. "It's moot," the aide repeated emphatically.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter appears to be one of the motivating factors for Craig's apparent reconsideration. On FOX News Sunday, he said Craig should "fight the case." But don't expect any comments from Specter today, his office says.  In a written statement this morning, Specter says, "At least for the time being, I have said all I intend to say publicly when I made my comments about Senator Craig's situation on Fox News last Sunday."

Craig's spokesman says he does NOT expect the Senator Craig to return to Washington this week. 

From NBC's Mark Murray
The Clinton and Obama presidential campaigns today both are going up with dueling TV ads that talk about change. Clinton's ad, which is running in Iowa and New Hampshire, concludes with this line: "If we have the conviction, she has the experience. If we're ready for change, she's ready to lead."

Obama's, which is running statewide in Iowa, ends with Obama saying, "We are going to take back our government; we are going to make a change."

"Change" versus "experience," of course, has been one of the constant themes between the two Democratic front-runners -- with Clinton now touting that she possesses both attributes.

From NBC's Andrew Merten and Mark Murray
... when there are photos like this one...

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. during a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday. Credit: Jim Cole/AP

From NBC's Mark Murray
On the eve of Fred Thompson's official annoucement, another campaign communications staffer -- former FOX producer Jim Mills -- is exiting, the Washington Post's Shear reports. This news might not come as a huge surprise, given that Todd Harris and Karen Hanretty have taken control of Team Fred's press shop. But it's yet another staff departure...

Shear writes, "This from campaign manager Bill Lacy in a memo to the staff... 'Our new Communications Director Todd Harris is building an experienced and aggressive team of campaign professionals to help lead our press operation,' Lacy wrote. He added, 'This constitutes a substantial shift, not in our candidate's message, but in the way we support it and enhance it. Due to this shift, Jim Mills has informed me that he is leaving the campaign due to strategic differences. I respect Jim's decision and encourage all of you to join me in wishing him the best of luck.'"

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** The Durham Bulls: After being mostly overshadowed by their Democratic counterparts so far this campaign season, the Republican presidential candidates step into the political spotlight today -- on two different coasts. The already announced candidates (Brownback, Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, McCain, Paul, Romney, and Tancredo) participate in their fifth debate from Durham, NH. It airs on FOX beginning at 9:00 pm ET, and it's moderated by Brit Hume, with Chris Wallace and Wendell Goler also asking questions. The last time these guys debated, right before the Ames straw poll, Brownback engaged Romney on abortion. Where will the fireworks come from this time? Will Romney hit Giuliani on immigration? Will Brownback, after his disappointing finish in Ames, once again go after Romney? And will they all gang up on Fred Thompson, who isn't on the stage but officially gets into the race tomorrow?

*** "Experience" Is No Longer An Issue In Just The Dem Race: Here's something else to watch for at the debate: It looks like McCain has his sights set on front-runners Giuliani and Romney. Yesterday, in addition to taking some questions from high schoolers in New Hampshire ("Thanks for the question, you little jerk," he joked to one yesterday), McCain said 1) that he was the sole major GOP candidate to criticize Donald Rumsfeld's strategy for the war and 2) that his national security credentials are better than Giuliani's and Romney's. "I think the nation respects the mayor's leadership after 9/11, and I do, too, and I think he displayed leadership at a time that Americans needed some steady hand," McCain said, per the New York Times. "[But] I don't think it translates, necessarily, into foreign policy or national security expertise. I know of nothing in his background that indicates that he has any experience in it, with him or Romney."

*** Putting The Toothpaste Back Into The Tube: And here's another topic we will probably see the GOP candidates respond to tonight… As Arlen Specter hinted at on Sunday, Larry Craig is indeed reconsidering his decision to resign. Mitch McConnell's worst nightmare may now be realized: There's nothing the Senate GOP wants less than to see Craig drag this out. That said, Craig's clearly looking for a fight, and since he feels as if everyone in the Senate abandoned him (sans Specter), he probably isn't willing to listen to any reason from his GOP colleagues. Perhaps the compromise the party could hope for at this point is for Craig to stay in office but not run for re-election. The REAL nightmare for McConnell and Co. would be for Craig to be on the '08 ballot. What's not clear in all this is what Craig wants to get out of this. Will fighting really rehabilitate his image or only begin encouraging more rumor-mongering and stalling any hope he has of actually doing what he's setting out to do: proving his innocence? Should be interesting tonight to watch the GOP presidential candidates on stage tonight having to react to this latest Craig news.

*** "Heeeeere's Fred…": While his soon-to-be rivals debate in New Hampshire, Fred Thompson appears on The Tonight Show in Los Angeles, as well as in a TV commercial that will run on FOX during the debate. The last time an actor went on Leno to announce his bid for higher office (officially or unofficially) was when Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Burbank studio in 2003. But there won't be nearly the surprise there was four years ago: We already know he's in. On Thursday, Thompson begins a five-day announcement tour that takes him to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. In addition to the ad that will air during tonight's debate, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports that a similar TV ad will air on FOX on Thursday (the difference between the spots boils down to a time reference noting before and after Thompson actually declares). 

*** Goin' South: The most under-reported story of the presidential race today is Mitt Romney's decision to finally go up with broadcast TV ads in South Carolina. The sustained broadcast ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire helped propel Romney to the top of the polls in both of those early states. But South Carolina has been a different story. Will Romney show real progress after a few weeks of being on the air there? If he does, then he can be the nominee. If he doesn't, then he could be in big trouble. More importantly, will the rest of the front-runners (read: Giuliani and Thompson in particular) allow Romney to be on the air alone in perhaps the single most important state on the GOP side?

*** On The Trail: Elsewhere today, Clinton, in Philadelphia, participates in a Club 44 "Women Win With Hillary" panel and event; Obama campaigns in Iowa before heading to Chicago; and Richardson stumps in South Carolina.

*** Bill Clinton and Experience: On TODAY, in his most extensive discussion on the politics of the 2008 election, Bill Clinton beat back Matt Lauer's question of whether experience really matters. Lauer tried to remind the "Comeback Kid" that he wasn't exactly the most experienced candidate in '92. Clinton replied that he was the most experienced governor in the country and had the right experience for the time. Clinton also deflected Obama's talking point that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had plenty of experience, saying -- though somewhat botched -- that if a couple of doctors committed malpractice, that wouldn't mean you'd stop going to doctors. By the way, how come Bill Richardson hasn't complained that Hillary stole his change-and-experience line?

Countdown to LA GOV election: 45 days
Countdown to Election Day 2007: 62 days
Countdown to LA GOV run-off (if necessary): 73 days
Countdown to Iowa: 131 days
Countdown to SC GOP primary: 136 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 153 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 426 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 503 days

The New York Times front-pages this analysis: "With the Democratic-led Congress poised to measure progress in Iraq by focusing on the central government's failure to perform, President Bush is proposing a new gauge, by focusing on new American alliances with the tribes and local groups that Washington once feared would tear the country apart. That shift in emphasis was implicit in Mr. Bush's decision to bypass Baghdad on his eight-hour trip to Iraq, stopping instead in Anbar Province, once the heart of an anti-American Sunni insurgency."

That said, "It was the White House and the Iraqi government, not Congress, that first proposed the benchmarks for Iraq that are now producing failing grades, a provenance that raises questions about why the administration is declaring now that the government's performance is not the best measure of change."

The Washington Post: "A bleak portrait of the political and security situation in Iraq released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office sparked sharp protests from the top U.S. military command in Baghdad, whose officials described it as flawed and 'factually incorrect.' The controversy followed last-minute changes made in the final draft of the report after the Defense Department maintained that its conclusions were too harsh and insisted that some of the information it contained -- such as the extent of a fall in the number of Iraqi army units capable of operating without U.S. assistance -- should not appear in the final, unclassified version."

As of press time, anti-war Democrats, including Reps. Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey, and Barbara Lee, began holding a press conference at 9:00 am ET today to call for an end to the "irresponsible" training and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

BIDEN: Per the campaign, Biden today will pick up an endorsement from Iowa Assistant House Majority Leader John Whitaker (D-Hillsboro). Whitaker, whose son was deployed last week to Iraq, is the seventh Iowa state legislator to endorse Biden.

CLINTON: The New York Times continues to delve into Hillary Rodham's past -- today focusing exclusively on her ideological changes during the year of 1968.

Newsday has this buried at the end of a story mostly about the Clintons making the daytime talk show rounds: "Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that as the senator from New York was publicly pressing the flesh with New Hampshire voters this weekend, behind-the-scenes she was pressuring a top labor leader not to endorse John Edwards. Clinton phoned United Steelworkers of America boss Leo Gerard 'repeatedly' over the weekend, according to sources familiar with the situation. The union, which represents 1.2 million workers and retirees, endorsed Edwards on Labor Day."

On those talk shows, Hillary on Ellen and Bill on Oprah, neither committed any news, but news wasn't the point. Meanwhile, Bill's media tour this week continues, with appearances last night on Letterman and this morning on TODAY.

Clinton's Senate office sent the release last night touting her decision to vote against the confirmation of incoming OMB Dir. (and Iowan) Jim Nussle. From the release: "The President should be signaling a willingness to work with Congress to right our fiscal ship and to make the right investments in our infrastructure, in our schools, in our health care system, and for strengthening our middle class which have been ignored for far too long. Instead he has chosen a budget director that I fear will only serve to defend the Administration's failed economic policies. Unfortunately, Mr. Nussle's record doesn't reflect an understanding of the challenges being faced by America's middle class, nor does his background suggest any particular ability to accommodate views or priorities that differ from the President's."

By the way, Nussle was confirmed, 69-24 with seven senators not voting. Biden joined Clinton in voting no; Dodd and Obama didn't vote. No Republicans voted against Nussle's confirmation. Interestingly, the Senate's top Dem leaders were split on Nussle, with Harry Reid voting no and Dick Durbin voting yes.

Did you realize Bill Clinton will be a New York State Super Delegate?

DODD: Dodd, who is the chair of the Senate banking and housing and urban affairs committees, told the Des Moines Register "that he might support direct assistance to people who signed up for risky mortgages and didn't have the incomes to afford the homes they bought."

OBAMA: MoDo is at it again. She writes her umpteenth scathing Obama column. Dowd doesn't like Obama's new stump speech: "Suddenly, the candidate who had so consciously modeled himself and his wife on J.F.K. and Jackie was a simple rube, fighting the system…  The smooth jazz senator claiming no facility with 'Washington talk' struck a false note. In the traditional Labor Day kickoff to a campaign that has already left us weary of the inauthentic, the shopworn and the hyper-prepped, Obama told voters: 'Now, when the folks in Washington hear me speak, this is usually when they start rolling their eyes, "Oh, there he goes talking about hope again. He's so naïve. He's a hope-peddler. He's a hope-monger." Well, I stand guilty as charged. I am hopeful about America. Apparently, the pundits consider this a chronic condition, a symptom of a lack of experience.'"

Dowd continues, "Actually, the only thing we regard as a symptom of a lack of experience is a lack of experience. This pundit, for one, needs hope as much as any American these days. But the only time I roll my eyes is when my hope is dashed that Obama will boldly take on Hillary, making his campaign more than cameras and mirrors and magazine covers."

The Wall Street Journal notes that Obama has acquired so many foreign policy advisers, he has his own "virtual State Department." "But the makeup of Mr. Obama's team -- heavy on onetime aides to President Clinton -- also speaks to an internecine feud between Mr. Obama and his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, over which of them represents the future of their party."

The Des Moines Register saw Obama fanning a bit of the back-and-forth flame between he and Clinton saying, "Too many in Washington see politics as a game, and that's why I view that this election is not about who can play the game better, it has to be about who can put an end to the game-playing." Clinton said on Monday "I know we can set these goals and reach them, and I know too that you don't just do it by making a speech. You don't just do it by hoping it happens."

RICHARDSON: Per the Des Moines Register, Richardson said yesterday that "the United States' transportation system is 'fixated on highways' and should include more emphasis on energy-efficient modes of travel with planning to ensure preservation of open spaces."

GIULIANI: So bygones are bygones... The new Rudy Web site includes a link to the talk radio show hosted by his ex-wife Donna Hanover.

While in Mississippi, Giuliani stood with Gov. Haley Barbour, the former RNC Chair. He declared Barbour "on the top of everybody's list" for vice president but would not answer whether he was considering him. Barbour dismissed the idea that a Republican nominee would select a Mississippi governor for the ticket. "We're one of the safer states for Republicans in an election, and I don't think anybody thinks that they need to go out and find them somebody to help carry Mississippi," Barbour said.

MCCAIN: The New York Times on McCain challenging Giuliani's (and also Romney's) foreign policy credentials yesterday. "The remarks represented a departure for Mr. McCain, who has usually refrained from questioning the experience of his rivals. And he has until now shied from any criticism of Mr. Giuliani, whom he describes as a friend and often praises."

"Asked about Mr. McCain's remarks, Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, said, 'The mayor considers John McCain a friend and continues to have the utmost respect for him and for his service to our country.'"

ROMNEY: So is Romney trying to sound more like a Democrat when it comes to Iraq? Yesterday, he described Iraq as a "mess." Now he's talking up the likelihood that there will be a "substantial reduction" of U.S. troops in Iraq in 2008.

Is Romney simply HOPING there's a substantial reduction of troops in Iraq by '08, or does he know something?

The Boston Globe front-pages "a first-of-its-kind website that it says contains an unparalleled repository of information about Mitt Romney's record that could be used against the former governor in his White House run." RomneyFacts.com was created by the Massachusetts Democratic Party and "lays out a wealth of documents: personal financial disclosure statements he filed as governor; policy proposals he put forward in his 2002 campaign; several old campaign ads; and a unique searchable database of campaign contributions from his entire political career."

Romney is up today with a new ad that will begin running in South Carolina in the next couple of weeks. The Columbia State says the ad is "intended to boost his name identification and propel a candidacy that is winning in Iowa and New Hampshire but has yet to flourish in South Carolina," where he "is mired in third or fourth place in most S.C. polls."

THOMPSON: Yesterday, Romney took the lead in mocking Thompson. Today, it's Giuliani surrogate Peter King. "Rudy is a real crime fighter," said Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.). "Fred Thompson has primarily done it on television." King, former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is an adviser to Giuliani on national-security issues. "Rudy got crime in New York City under control - not by acting, but by getting results. Rudy Giuliani has the real credentials," King added. The Thompson team responded: "It's the first of what I expect to be many signs of desperation from the Giuliani campaign."

A Boston Globe staff editorial called Thompson's flirtation with a presidential run a "campaign of seven veils" and a "striptease," one that has been seen before and hasn't worked. They compare it to Wesley Clark's failed campaign and cite his lackluster fund-raising as another complication.