Thompson roars past McCain and Romney; Giuliani is in his sights!

As we get ready for Fred Thompson's appearance on Jay Leno tonight, a new Los Angeles Times- Bloomberg poll paints a picture of a race for the Republican nomination that's clearly breaking Thompson's way.

A poll of likely GOP primary voters gives these results:

Q: If the Republican primary or caucus for president were being held in your state today and the candidates were Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Rep. Duncan Hunter (Calif.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.), Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.), former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson (Wis.) and actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), for whom would you vote? (Includes leaners*; among people who say they'll vote Republican in the primary)

Republican primary voters:
Giuliani 27%
Fred Thompson 21%
McCain 12%
Romney 10%
Gingrich 9%
Huckabee 3%
Tommy Thompson 2%
Hunter 1%
Brownback --
Tancredo --
Other 1%
Don't know 14%

That's right. Fred is at 21%, with McCain and Romney (with only 12% and 10% respectively) too far back to really even be choaking on his dust. On the other hand, Thompson is within six percent of Rudy Giuliani- a gap bound to close (and then some!) as Giuliani's position on abortion becomes more widely known.

Everything is breaking FDT's way.

Whatever Thompson says on The Tonight Show this evening, he will probably be formally in the race by the early part of July. Don't be surprised if the polls around the middle of July show Fred Thompson having overtaken Giuliani- and it could well be a cakewalk from there.