Like it or not, Fred was the overwhelming choice of FReepers from the get-go, and for good reason --- his life long conservatism and his call for advancing federalism are what rightwingers like myself support.
Btw, counting Fred's "testing the waters" campaign phase, he was an unofficial-official candidate for about 10 months. In fact, Fred's candidacy started the beginning of the end for the Giuliani campaign --- which happened to be a major goal of Free Republic.