I was a FredHead, but I had no idea until just now that Fred Thompson indeed campaigned for Lincoln Chafee against Steve Laffey in the 2006 GOP primary. I found this 2007 article on the subject: http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/134774.aspx
Suffice it to say, I am deeply disappointed in Senator Thompson’s actions in the 2006 RI Senate primary, and the fact that Senator Thompson was a friend and colleague with Lincoln’s late father, Senator John Chafee (who was liberal, but at least was honorable, unlike his son), is no excuse for his actions. I still believe what I wrote two years ago, that not only should all Republicans have supported Chafee’s primary opponent, but we should have rooted for Chafee to switch to the Democrats back in 2005:
http://auh2orepublican.blogspot.com/2005/08/what-to-do-about-insufferable-senator.html
http://auh2orepublican.blogspot.com/2005/09/more-on-why-senator-lincoln-chafee-has.html
That being said, Fred Thompson did not campaign for Chafee with my money, which is what the NRSC was doing (since I had contributed to the NRSC). Here is the open letter to the NRSC I wrote back in 2005: http://auh2orepublican.blogspot.com/2005/10/open-letter-to-nrsc-regarding-its.html
And as for Fred Thompson’s post-Super-Tuesday endorsement of John McCain, he actually endorsed McCain later than I did; after Thompson dropped out, I thought about it and came to the conclusion that John McCain, for all his obvious faults, was still the most trustworthy conservative candidate with a chance to win the nomination, since he was far better than Huckabee on economic and defense issues (not to mention on experience and electability), far better than Rudy on social issues (Rudy’s pro-abortion, pro-gun-control stances not only made him unacceptable to me and most other conservatives, but they would have made him a sure loser in November), and far better than Romney on just about every issue, since nothing that came out of Romney’s mouth could be believed (and Romney’s record was as liberal as Arnold’s).
Chafee was a sitting member of the NRSC as an incumbent. NEVER contribute to the NRSC prior to all primaries being completed unless you know you like all of the incumbents in the election cycle. The NRSC will indeed support its own members - that should come as no surprise - that is one of its primary functions.