South Carolina will be Fred Thompson’s last stand. If he wins here Saturday, he survives to fight another day. If he doesn’t, then the best he can hope for is a vice presidential spot on the November ballot.

Everyone knows that including Thompson, who today went on the offensive in an attempt to trumpet his conservative credentials while berating his opponents.

The former Tennessee senator said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won’t answer questions about his record; criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain’s immigration failed proposal and downplayed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s win in Michigan.

“Gov. Romney was very effective in Michigan doing what he does best and that is tailoring his message to a particular audience,” Thompson said. “He basically – as I could pick up with it – promised that the federal government was going to come in and bail out Michigan when he got elected president. Very conservative notion, don’t you think? But any way it worked. … We’ll just have to see if that’s what the American people are looking forward to.”  [...]

Thompson called McCain a friend but said he was simply “wrong on immigration” and blasted McCain’s work with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy on a proposal some said gave amnesty to illegal immigrants.”I knew that he was on the wrong track. He was. And the American people said so and they rejected that bill,” Thompson said. “At least McCain’s record’s been out there for about 20 years. We’ve got some Johnny-come-latelies now that don’t want to talk about their record and they’re hoping there’s not enough time for anybody to even to examine it, because where they’ve been in the past – Huckabee’s not the only one – is different from where they are now.”

McCain spokesman B.J. Boling said the senator has 24-year record of fighting wasteful spending and only voted against tax breaks because they were not accompanied by spending reductions. [JIM DAVENPORT - AP]

Looks like the mainstream media will definitely be getting their southern-fried spittin’ contest over the next four days.