Romney savaged Thompson before he got into the race , and Huckster chipped away at Thompson’s support with the Evangelical’s blessings .
Hillary and McPain , what a choice .... Dear Amnesty , it appears we are ready for you afterall ....
I disagree that Romney himself savaged Thompson. A man who worked with a person on Romney’s team put a web page together which apparently was true but WAS a negative attack site. It lasted only until it was made public, and it was taken down. Maybe some damage was done, but after that, Thompson’s ratings went UP, and didn’t drop until he entered the race, and well before Huckabee.
Thompson lost his support when he turned out not to be a fire-breathing christian. Sorry, maybe it’s unfair, but the evangelicals didn’t want to hear that their candidate didn’t belong to a church, and didn’t see the need to discuss his faith in any manner. So they went back to looking, and THEN they found Huckabee.
I fought Huckabee because I found him a less worthy candidate and a threat to Thompson and Romney. But the value voters loved him, and that was enough to get him Iowa.
Still, Thompson needed to win, and candidates do attack each other.