One down...9 to Go

...unless you add Thompson, which would make it 10 again.

Barely a ripple (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The crowded field for the Republican nomination for the 2008 U.S. presidential election shrank by one on Saturday when former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore announced he was withdrawing.

"It has become apparent to me that the combination of my late start, and the front-loaded nature of the primary schedule, have made it impractical to continue to pursue this path towards further public service," Gilmore said in a statement on his campaign Web site.

"I believe that it takes years of preparation to put in place both the political and financial infrastructure to contest what now amounts to a one-day national primary in February."

He has a point.