Remember that Fred was announcing his candidacy on Jay Leno the same night as a NH debate. Ever since that day, Fred has been a dead man to most of NH.
“Ever since that day, Fred has been a dead man to most of NH.”
That’s funny because if you look back at the average of NH polls at that time, Thompson’s poll support in the state doubled in the month after he announced, until he was showing at 13% in early October. His numbers then tanked from that point, as they have in National polls (RCP average 22% in early October, 10.3% now), Michigan (14% early October, 4.5% now), South Carolina (22% early October, 9.3% now), Florida (21% early October, 8.5% now).
That suggests that it was something other than the candidates decision to not attend one debate that caused those people to abandon Thompson and that it isn’t a phenomenon unique to New Hampshire.