About McCain's Numbers

Bob Novak writes that Fred Thompson's not-yet-in-existence Presidential campaign is soaring:

In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles because he is filling the conservative void in the field.

Republican activists have complained for months that none of the Big Three -- Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney-- fits the conservative model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in conversations with them the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on "Fox News Sunday."

Meanwhile, John McCain's first quarter fundraising numbers are disappointing:

Romney’s early fundraising success came in sharp contrast to the disappointing and comparably paltry numbers posted by McCain.

Though a veteran senator who has recruited many of President Bush’s top donors to his team, McCain couldn’t even match Giuliani, who didn’t definitively decide to mount a bid until February and whose organization still lags behind that of the other two.

McCain campaign manager Terry Nelson admitted in a press release that they "had hoped to do better in first quarter fundraising."

I have to ask: is Fred Thompson angling to be John McCain's running mate, or is McCain angling to be Thompson's?

Update: McCain's statement is here.