Sorry. I linked to the reply and not the post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1947169/posts?page=12#12
Thanks for the link. I did see that this morning but mentally linked it to this instead:
'Thompson: "I Need to Come in Second"'
I thought of the "48 hours" mention simply as giving a "deadline" of the day after the caucuses, and I thought of the McCain mention as an added layer of not-too-outlandish speculation.