DES MOINES - If there's one thing the Thompson campaign never got a grip on, it was managing the press's expectations for his candidacy. The storyline was always that Thompson was lazy, and the campaign did little to try and break that narrative early, and instead Fred's comments - in some cases unfairly taken out of context by the media - ended up reinforcing that storyline over the course of the campaign.

Now on the day of the caucuses we have a bizarre story from the Politico quoting "several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson's presidential campaign" saying he'll drop out of the race and back McCain if he fares poorly in Iowa. And we also have a story from Amy Schatz in the Wall Street Journal saying Thompson is fading down the stretch. (see Michael Crowley for an even bleaker take on Fred's travels through Iowa.)

We'll know tonight if things have indeed gone that bad for Thompson, but it certainly doesn't look like the kind of strong finish he had in mind when he moved to the state three weeks ago to make his final push.

UPDATE: Byron York got in touch with Thompson adviser Rich Galen who vehemently denied the Politico story.