(Editor's Note: Thompson dropped out of the presidential race for the Republican nomination on Jan. 22, 2008, after coming in a distant third in the South Carolina Republican primary on Jan. 19, 2008. See a statement on his campaign Web site.)

Thompson hasn't really come up with a plan to fix the mortgage crisis. But he has found a scapegoat — illegal immigrants. He said at a rally in Iowa during late December that Hispanics who don't speak English very well — and don't understand the mortgages they're getting into — are partly to blame for the growing numbers of foreclosures around the country.

CBS4.com video: Fred Thompson says Hispanics and the language barrier that some have are partly to blame for the country's current mortgage crisis. ( Dec. 27, 2007.)

— Las Vegas Sun new media managing editor Dave Toplikar compiled this report.