He sure is folksy, that Thompson. But his opening story? Lame. He talked about how a little girl wanted to stand in the limelight with him throughout his speech during a campaign spot. In a way, that story seems to reflect how Thompson is doing -- he's enjoying being in the limelight, but he doesn't seem to have much to say.

Of course, his campaign is quite different. I was just handed a paper from the the Friends of Fred Thompson, which looks like it was pieced together at the last minute. It hits Romney and Giuliani with short quotes pulled from interviews and campaigns in previous years.

The fight for the nomination is the fight to prove who's a real conservative, obviously, but what Tancredo said earlier is entirely wrong -- conservatism exists in a number of flavors, and its possible to be a conservative and not place social values at the center of your campaign.

I'm not a Mitt cheerleader, but I did think he made a fantastic point during the debates when he noted that he didn't like being attacked on the basis of who was pro-life first. Even if it might have been a little disingenuous on his part, wouldn't it make more sense if conservatives looked at their ideology as an evolution of thought and beliefs? In fact, they call liberals reactionary, so conservatives must be thoughtful, and willing to put ideas against eachother.

Everyone has their pet issues in the conservative movement. But prioritizing some issues over others shouldn't be a disqualification.

Which is why, watching Thompson, I'm convinced he's got a solid stance on a lot of issues. Unfortunately, it's more of a slouch. He repeats a line that hardly resonates, the fact that "we're at a crossroads in this country." What are the crossroads? How are they any different than '04? He's got people clapping on his issues, but he's throwing away his big, inspirational lines. If this summit continues as a checklist of conservative principle, rather than a moment for inspiration, then it won't have been a summit so much as a swan song for a conservative winner of the '08 election.

**UPDATE** This is just what I mean. Fred Thompson's two standing applauses were: Being introduced and promising that when he gets into office, the first thing he'd do is pray. Standing, roaring applause. That's as good as it gets at this talk folks. I think praying is important, but you've gotta be kidding me that this is the Fred Juggernaut.