This is a long post so bear with me.

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson doesn’t need to have a good debate performance Tuesday night. He needs to KNOCK THE COVER OFF THE BALL. He needs to beat the rest of the field BY TEN TOUCHDOWNS.

The Thompson campaign is wisely playing the expectations game.

“We think that we’ll hold our own, but obviously every other candidate on the stage has been going to these debates all year long. They’ve already gone through their preseason. This is our first scrimmage,” said Todd Harris, a Thompson spokesman. “The most important thing for us is for Fred’s message and answers to connect with Republican voters and that has been our focus.”

With all due respect, this is not the preseason and it is not a scrimmage. If you want to stay with sports metaphors, Thompson was a contract holdout and missed the entire training camp and pre-season. But this is the pros and it is time to put up or shut up or perhaps more appropriately, win or go home.

Thompson was going to announce in July, then August and then in time for the New Hampshire debate. He missed all those self-imposed deadlines because of campaign staff shake-ups and fundraising that while respectable, fell far short of expectations. His stump speeches and other media appearances have fallen short of expectations as well. This is Thompson’s first exposure on the national stage that isn’t scripted by writers for Law and Order.

Based on my reading of background questions from various polls, I get the sense that, to use an old political phrase, his support is a mile wide but only an inch deep. Without a great debate performance, I believe a lot of that pond is going to dry up.

”All his missteps and his laid-back style of campaigning is taking a toll on the early enthusiasm with which his candidacy was received.”

According to Dick Morris writing for The Hill that Fred is Fading, Thompson’s numbers among likely Republican voters are falling. Not precipitously but falling none the less and that is not a good sign. It is especially not a good sign when it coincides with the calendar which indicated that more and more voters are actually focusing on the race.

Thompson also needs a great debate performance to mollify hard-line conservatives over his support of McCain-Feingold. Given the vitriol aimed at Senator McCain on pro Fred blogs and other political sites over McCain-Feingold it will be interesting to see how Thompson’s full throated support will play out with his supporters. As John Gizzi writes in a recent article in Human Events…

Fred Thompson finally made clear his position on the statist campaign finance restrictions embodied in the McCain-Feingold bill. And conservatives are clearly not going to be pleased.

When the former star of TV’s “Law and Order” series and newly-minted presidential candidate spoke to reporters on the porch of the Grand Hotel here, I asked Thompson whether he was proud of his role in enacting the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation in ’01.

“Yes,” replied the former Tennessee senator without hesitation. “You will recall that the central part of the legislation was getting rid of soft money [from the political process].”

Fred Thompson either needs to win the Michigan Debate and win it big or he needs to hope that there are no rotund operatic sopranos warming up their vocal chords

BZ

I realize how much you want Thompson to turn out to be our Golden Boy but then I read this.

Thompson’s New Top Advisor: Elizabeth Cheney.

Ms. Cheney, whose father is Vice President Dick Cheney, was until recently principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Her foreign policy credentials can only help Mr. Thompson, and her family ties can help him build a bridge to the current administration, said Keith Harper, founder of the Web site FredHeads.com.

Help build bridge to the current administration, WTF?

Current Administration?

Isn’t this the Administration that dropped the ball in Afghanistan?
Isn’t this the Administration that will NOT not do what it takes to win in Iraq?
Isn’t this the Administration that didn’t and won’t close our borders?
Isn’t this the Administration that let Mexican Truck Drivers enter our country?
Isn’t this the Administration that wants a New World Order?
Isn’t this the Administration that wants the North American Tready?

I find Mr. Thompson to be nothing more then a puppet for Bush and Cheney. In Fact, I find him to be nothing more then George W. Bush with actors make-up on.

I’m sorry Fred, I will not be supporting Fred Thompson.

And Thompson has got to show some serious STUFF now, there is NO room for weakness, and if he’s not going for a WIN I won’t support him, in ANY way…

And lunch sounds great, any Monday, if you’re buying it’s sounds even better…

This debate can give one of them a Serious jump, I hope it is ether F.T or Hunter.

And I hope to see Ron Paul get his ass handed to him.