As quips ricocheted around him, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson largely stayed away from the one-liners during his first presidential debate yesterday, sticking to the low-key style that has drawn derision during his month on the campaign trail.
In a highly anticipated appearance, Thompson shared a Dearborn, Mich., stage with eight other candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, giving a national audience its first opportunity to directly compare the 65-year-old actor with other contenders for the White House.
Debate organizers knew that attention was on Thompson, and they threw him the first question - on the state of the economy. He later became the subject of mild ribbing from other candidates for his high-profile late entrance to the race.
Asked at the end how it went, Thompson said, "Just like home." As the audience laughed, he added: "I didn't say which kind of home."
Thompson might have felt comfortable but not more so than former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Arizona Sen. John McCain. Thompson had a hard time grabbing the spotlight from his chief rivals, who were debating one another for the sixth time.
The stakes were high for Thompson's debating debut. He entered the race with much fanfare a little more than a month ago, hoping to capture the hearts of conservatives by channeling Ronald Reagan and by bringing a thespian's flair to what many viewed as an unsatisfying Republican field.
But it has been a rocky start. He has fumbled for answers to questions on topical issues such as the Jena Six case and oil drilling in Florida's Everglades, raising doubts about how much preparation he was willing to invest to get the job.
The national punditry has found him unengaged and uninspiring. "A human snooze button," wrote one national magazine writer. An "overhyped underperformer" concluded a New York Times columnist.
Against that backdrop, the consequences for yesterday's debate were "huge," said Bill Brock, a former Republican National Committee chairman and labor secretary in the Reagan administration. Thompson needed time in a competitive arena, he said, to develop the skills to continue an effective campaign.
"Everybody was expecting [him] to come in and just blow out the field," said Brock, also a former senator from Tennessee. "His delayed entrance, in effect, kept him from getting toned up."
