Thompson keeps it short, not so sweet

TAMPA, Fla. — Former Sen. Fred Thompson was asked yesterday whether he lacks the passion needed to run for president, whether he could keep the Republican nomination battle from becoming a two-man race, and just exactly why he gave only a five-minute speech to hundreds of supporters over the weekend.

He didn’t like the questions.

“I’m glad we’re dealing again with matters of real important national security and real important matters to our economy,” Mr. Thompson said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

The former Tennessee senator, who entered the race last month and has since been criticized for a spotty performance, held a press conference yesterday after touring the port of Tampa.

It lasted 11 minutes; Mr. Thompson took just five questions, often softly clapping his hands in front of him as he spoke, before striding off, ignoring a final query.

To the question of whether he lacks passion, he said “I answered that question last night” in the Republican debate in Orlando. When asked at the debate whether he was “lazy,” Mr. Thompson generated laughter and applause when saying the label fits if it means rising from being a teenage father and factory worker to becoming a federal prosecutor and senator.

And to the question of whether former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani are running away with the race, he said, “I would have thought the question would be why I’m creeping up in the polls.”

“To hear some of these comments, you would not recognize the fact that I’m apparently second in all the national polls, that I’ve got over 100,000 contributors and I’ve been in the race for about eight weeks.

“I’m not concerned about where the polls are now, even the good ones that have me doing very well. It’s a long campaign yet, there’s a lot of travel to be done, a lot of speeches to be made and a lot of television to do. President Howard Dean can tell you that things can change in a matter of days,” he deadpanned in a his baritone voice.

The reference was to Mr. Dean’s Democratic candidacy in 2004 when he led all polls right up to the first political contest in Iowa. He lost there and was quickly relegated to the dustbin of history.

Mr. Thompson had left a slew of supporters scratching their heads this weekend when he flew to Florida on Saturday to make his pitch for why he should be president — and then spoke for just five minutes.

“That’s it?” said one woman in the event, hosted by the Florida Republican Party.

Thompson spokesman Jeff Sadosky said people in the large hall at a golf resort near Disney World had been there two hours when Mr. Thompson took the stage as the final candidate to speak. While the other spoke for about 30 minutes, the newest candidate in the race decided to keep his remarks brief.

“Unlike some other candidates, we don’t need 25 minutes to explain why we’re conservative because they understand our record,” he said.

But Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who conducted a focus group during Sunday night’s Republican debate, said conservatives are not yet fully embracing Mr. Thompson.

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