Republican Fred Thompson, former Senator from Tennessee gave his after politics acting life to get back into the political area. After several supporters talked him into entering the foray, he waited until September to officially announce his candidacy and, while quickly rising to third place in most polls, has remained there throughout his time on the trail.
When Thompson first burst onto the political scene, he took the stand that there was no other candidate as conservative in his views as him. He often compared himself to Ronald Reagan's conservatism and counted on name recognition of his term as a judge in the television series Law and Order. While he does stand stall and presents himself professionally, according to some poll watchers, his desire to travel in an old pick up truck may make him seem less presidential to many conservative voters.
According to polls at usaelectionpolls.com, he leads Rudy Giuliani in Iowa by a 10 to nine percent margin. However, that is still far beneath the current poll leaders Mike Huckabee with 39 percent and Mitt Romney with 17 percent. The website also shows the American Research Group has Thompson at 14 percent to Giuliani's nine percent, but still far behind Romney's 28 percent and Huckabee's 27 percent.
In national polls, he holds onto fourth place with 10 percent, behind the other top tier candidates, although he has a strong showing on the top of the polls in South Carolina, another early primary state with 18 percent and Wisconsin with a commanding 30 percent.
