Big news this week: Chuck Hagel decided to hang it up and passed on seeking the Republican nomination for president. (Some analysts still think he is going to pair up with Mike Bloomberg for an independent run.) Alan Keyes decided he needed to embarrass himself one more time and declared his candidacy. Also, it looks like Newt Gingrich is inching towards a run.

Your front runner for the nomination? Nobody. In the post, Paul Curtis noted a disturbing finding in a recent AP/Ipsos poll: Republicans didn't like that McCain was against torturing terrorist suspects. Not even just terrorists, but terrorist suspects.

David Dayen remarked on the ever-changing race for the Republican nomination. "That's a lot of muddle. And for a party that almost always nominates whoever is at the head of the polls on Labor Day the year before, it's quite astonishing."

Romney: Earlier this week, a website called "PhoneyFred" sprang up, attacking Fred Thompson. The site was linked to the Romney campaign because it was hosted on their account. You can imagine the hilarity of Mitt Romney calling someone else a "phony." Romney's people disavowed the website and denied any ties, claiming it was a rogue consultant. Grandpa Fred accused the Romney people of a "cover-up."

Giuliani: Foreign policy experience is such a drag. Luckily for Rudy, it's not a problem!

You may have heard Giuliani talk about immigration proceedings quite reasonably last week. Now it's hurting him among the GOP base. If it's not spittle-stained anger, they don't want to hear it.

Giuliani spent 9/11 with the 9/11-widow-hating Ann Coulter. But, also, that day, Rudy Giuliani shut down his website in remembrance of the horrific tragedy that he continues to exploit to this day. David Dayen pondered that and how Giuliani recently said that "everyday is 9/11" for him.

If Rudy! shut down his website in commemoration of 9/11, given that he also recently said "For me, every day is an anniversary of September 11," shouldn't his website also be shut down TODAY?

Indeed, since the reason for shutting the site down was that September 11 was not a day for politics, shouldn't he immediately cease all campaigning and permanently ensconce himself in a shiva house?

And when your former staffers start bailing on you like rats jumping off a burning, sinking ship, what do you do? Go trolling for supporters!

Thompson: FDT recently stated that Osama bin Laden was "more symbolism than anything else." FDT's camp, feeling the heat from making such a bad statement, tried to distance himself by denying he ever said the words. But TRF's Paul Curtis received confirmation from the AP that it was in fact, Fred Thompson who said it.

FDT also said that Osama bin Laden deserved due process. It is not exactly an outlandish statement, if in fact your party wasn't the GOP. But this led David Dayen, who noted that FDT's "lawyerin' for hire" may very well get him in trouble, to ask what side of OBL's trial FDT would be on. Because you see, FDT gave legal advice to a colleague serving as the defense of Libyan terrorists.

The nickname "Grandpa Fred" is quite fitting for FDT because the former senator doesn't seem to have much of a memory. He can't be bothered to give an opinion on the Terri Schiavo case -- it's ancient history, apparently -- despite the fact that his only stated principle on his website is "federalism," which was at the center of the legal wrangling. While in Florida, FDT was asked about the Florida delegates that would be in violation of RNC rules for having moved up their primary. Fred's answer: "It's above my pay-grade. ... I don't know."

It turns out that Fred's laziness to get into the race for over 2 months caused him to lose some support in Florida, and instead, join up with his arch nemesis, Mitt Romney.

Guess who else is not impressed with Grandpa Fred, the Candidate? Conservative pundits George Will and Robert Novak.

McCain: Trying to make himself relevant in this campaign, John McCain recycled the "they'll follow us home" from Iraq line. David Dayen notes that even General Petreaus was not on board with that idea:

This is the tired old "they'll follow us home" argument, propagated mainly by the fact that V-22 Osprey transport planes leave a trail of bread crumbs. They'll know the routes! Even General Petraeus was careful to distance himself from a notion that Iraqi insurgents fighting for their own country will get on boats and start car bombing Milwaukee.

McCain also disavowed the MoveOn.org ad against Petreaus, noting his opposition to the Swift Boat attack on John Kerry... then went to a campaign event with Swift Boater, Bud Day.

Finally, McCain's campaign is clinging to life financially after two good months of fundraising. Still unable to make major media buys, however.

Hunter: Duncan Hunter scored a "*" in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll. Honestly, why is this guy still running? Ron Paul is beating him in his home state of California.