Thompson's South Carolina Debut Well Received

Listening to South Carolina Republicans chew on Fred Thompson, one's reminded of the segue scenes in "King of the Hill" where Hank and friends stand on the sidewalk, beer in hand, mutter "Yep" and contemplate the world."

"Good ol' Fred."

"Yep."

"Good ol' Fred." Gonna save the party.

State Sen. Larry Grooms was more enthusiastic. “He’s going to be the next president,” Brooks replied.

Thompson blew into Columbia this morning for a test of the warm South Carolina waters. He brought his wife, Jeri, and young daughter, in tow.

“It’s the day, “ he said to a reporter who had asked whether he’d announce. “But it’s not THE day.” That will come in July. Thompson has to be very careful: if he utters the magic words – “I’m going to run” – then he has ten days to give the Federal Election Commission due notice. So he and his advisers are quick to say, when asked why Thompson was here, that he was simply invited to attend a fundraiser.

At a private breakfast with top South Carolina Republican donors, Thompson said it was not his ambition to become president, but that circumstances had a way of working themselves out. He took questions on immigration, tax reform and nuclear power.

Later, speaking to Republicans at a 50-dollar-a-plate lunch, Thompson was on the ball. He spent the bulk of his speech on terrorism, Iraq and immigration. The substance was about what you'd expect from a conservative candidate, but Thompson, for the time I've seen, seemed jazzed up. And the crowd reciprocated with several loud bursts of applause.

"We're can't be talking serious about national security while that's going on," he said. He introduced a new metaphor for immigration. America, he said, "is our home." "And we get to decide who gets to go into our home." More applause.

Scant mention of faith and religion and cultural issues. Thompson said that the guiding principles that made "America the most prosperous nation in the world" are "strong institutions, basic beliefs, the rule of law, a free market system..."

He didn't quite say it, but I got the feeling that Thompson wants to distinguish himself from other Republicans by presenting himself as the leader for the long-term, the guy who can see around corners, who basis his road map for the future on the principles and values that made America great in the past.

A standing ovation.