Correction at bottom
COLUMBIA, S.C. — After watching from offstage and seeing his poll numbers soar, actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson on Wednesday made his first public appearance in a state that could help him star in a new role, as a presidential candidate.
The former Tennessee senator and star of TV's "Law & Order" spoke to more than 300 South Carolina Republicans at a Columbia hotel. Invoking Ronald Reagan and what he called his party's "underlying principles," he gave many what they came for.
"He really galvanized the room," said David Woodard, a Clemson University political scientist who attended the event. "It was clear they were looking for somebody else" than the current crop of candidates "and they were attracted to him."
"He hit every one of the points that conservatives want to hear," said York County Republican Park Gillespie. "He's speaking to the base, no doubt about it."
Thompson, accompanied by his wife, Jeri, and their 2-{-year-old daughter, Hayden, worked the room at the luncheon, where he got a warm reception.
Thompson, 64, is expected to enter the race officially next month. He held his first fundraiser Tuesday in Nashville and is scheduled to visit New Hampshire, another early primary state, on Thursday.
Despite his non-candidate status, Thompson has surged in opinion surveys.
In South Carolina, which will hold the region's first 2008 GOP primary on Jan. 29, a Mason-Dixon poll this month found Thompson with support from 25 percent of likely voters, ahead of national front-runner and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and nine other candidates.
A CNN poll showed Thompson trailing only Giuliani nationally. He leads in Georgia and Nevada and is running second in a handful of other states.
His success in South Carolina comes as two of his main competitors have suffered setbacks. Giuliani's South Carolina campaign chairman, state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, was indicted this month on cocaine charges. Arizona Sen. John McCain — fourth in the Mason-Dixon poll — has been hurt by his support for an unpopular immigration bill pushed by President Bush.
Republicans applauded when Thompson denounced the bill, comparing it to 1986 legislation that granted amnesty to illegal immigrants.
"The American people are saying, 'Fool me twice, shame on me,'" said Thompson, who described immigration as one of the nation's biggest national security issues.
A week after visiting Margaret Thatcher in London, Thompson praised the former British prime minister and Reagan for their belief in a strong defense.
"What they did together was show that strength doesn't cause wars, strength prevents wars," he said, adding: "The world is not safer when the United States of America appears to be weaker."
Thompson's folksy humor appealed to his fellow southerners. For example, he cast his party's November defeat as a rejection of Washington Republicans, not of core GOP beliefs.
"Some of our folks went to Washington to drain the swamp and made partnership with the alligators," he said.
On the war in Iraq, Thompson said he has "hope and optimism" as long as U.S. troops do.
That attitude appealed to William Fields, a financial consultant from Columbia.
"He differentiated himself (from other candidates) in terms of his delivery and message and optimism," said Fields, 40. "People want to be optimistic. Nobody likes to follow a loser."
Joe Ruisi, 70, a cartoonist from Myrtle Beach, called Thompson "bold and brassy."
Tommy Richardson, a Lexington businessman, managed to get his picture taken with Thompson. "He hit the points that I like hearing, being a conservative," said Richardson, 48. "He would be a great leader."
Despite Thompson's tenure in Washington as a Capitol Hill staffer, lobbyist and lawmaker, some Republicans found it easy to see him as a virtual outsider.
"He's not part of the Washington, D.C., system," said Peggy Graham, 63, a Horry County real estate broker. "He's a breath of fresh air."
Fred Thompson
Age: 64
Occupation: Lawyer, actor, politician.
Family: Married Jeri Kehn in 2002. Two children. (First marriage ended in divorce after 26 years.)
First Washington role: Co-chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee; asked bombshell question of White House aide Alexander Butterfield: "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?"
Second Washington role: As a lobbyist. Clients included deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Third Washington role: Elected to U.S. Senate from Tennessee in 1994 (to fill Al Gore's unexpired term) and again in 1996.
Other Washington roles: Presidents Charles Ross in "Last Best Chance" (2005) and Ulysses S. Grant in "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (2007).
Film credits: Include 1990's "Days of Thunder," filmed in Charlotte.
An ex-girlfriend's take: "He's majestic. He's a soft, safe place to be and that could be Fred's ticket. Women love a soft place to lay and a strong pair of hands to hold us." — Country singer Lorrie Morgan, to the London Sunday Times.
A political scientist's take: "I've never seen a candidate come into a room and be greeted like that." — Neal Thigpen of South Carolina's Francis Marion University, on Wednesday's appearance.
(Morrill reports for The Charlotte Observer.)
CORRECTION: A story on former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson gave the wrong age for his young daughter; she’s three and a half. An accompanying fact box noted that he and his wife, Jeri, have two young children but didn’t mention that he also has two adult children from a previous marriage. Regarding the box’s assertion that as a lobbyist Thompson once represented deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Thompson campaign contends that technically Thompson didn’t represent Aristide as a lobbyist because he accepted no money from him. The campaign doesn’t deny that Thompson once placed a phone call to a top White House aide on Aristide’s behalf.