The third quarter fundraising numbers are in and the prospects of anyone other than Rudy Giuliani getting the nomination appear as bleak as ever.  Giuliani raked in $11 million and had $16 million on hand.  Fred Thompson raised $9.3 million and had $7 million on hand.  Romney raised $18 million, including a large loan to his own campaign, and McCain rounded out the leaders with a $6 million quarter, finishing with $3.6 million on hand and $1.5 million in debt.

With Rudy trailing Romney in Iowa, closing fast in New Hampshire, trailing narrowly in South Carolina, and leading just about everywhere else, it is becoming harder and harder to see anyone else winning the nomination.   Dr. James Dobson has already agreed joined with several other leading consservatives to say that he’ll back a third party candidacy should the Party nominate someone who does not respect life.  Regardless of the viability of such an effort in and of itself, that would probably lead to an Electoral College landslide for Clinton II, but might actually help Republiican Congressional candidates, who would benefit from those coming out to vote for the third party candidate when they would have stayed home in a Giuliani-Clinton match-up.

Some have said that Dobson & Co. are not being team players.  In fact, though, nominating Rudy would be a breech of contract on the Party’s part, and therefore relieve Christian conservatives of their obligations to help get the Party guy elected.  There absolutely is a quid pro quo in the activism of organizations like Focus on the Family and their supporters.  They have an agenda, and it so happens that the GOP has been their best means of enacting that agenda.  The GOP has elections, and needs their help to get elected, so it agrees to at least attempt to enact the social conervative agenda.  That’s why the arrangement works.  The GOP has no entitlement to the support of Christian conservatives, and those who think it does need to get a reality check.  For just about everybody, the GOP is a tool.  If the tool doesn’t function, activists have no use for it.  That’s politics.

The Associated Press has learned Congresswoman Heather Wilson intends to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican Pete Domenici.

Wilson made the decision yesterday after meeting with her family and notifying her staff.

A senior adviser to Wilson says she’s calling supporters around New Mexico this morning to tell them of her decision.

KOB

I took some time to read up on Heather Wilson and look over her voting record.  Overall, I am pretty satisfied with her as our candidate.  I think she is our best hope for keeping the seat in Republican hands and will be a reliable vote in the Senate on most issues.

Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho, defying the wishes of many in his own Republican Party, said Thursday that he would remain in the Senate through next year despite a court ruling against him in Minnesota, where he had sought to rescind his guilty plea stemming from an undercover sex sting.

Shortly after a judge denied his request to withdraw the August plea admitting to disorderly conduct, Mr. Craig said he had reversed his previously announced decision to leave the Senate if he could not get the plea thrown out. He said he would instead serve out his third term, which expires in January 2009. He said he would not run for a fourth.

The New York Times

I knew he wouldn’t step down. What Larry Craig is doing is completely selfish. This is no longer an issue as to whether or not he is guilty of the act he was arrested for. This is now an issue of credibility and his effectiveness in his job. Craig is now tainted and as such he cannot effectively perform his duties as a Senator without being a cancer on his constituents and the Republican Party.