Thompson joins debate for 30 secs.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson’s (R-Tenn.) decision to run his first ad during the broadcast of Wednesday night’s presidential debate in New Hampshire instead of participating in it could cost him dearly with the state’s voters. Thompson will appear on air later in the evening, as a guest on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Thompson’s rivals, as well as state officials and analysts, said the senator might be in hot water with primary voters, particularly if they interpret the campaign’s decision as part of an overall strategy that overlooks the first-in-the-nation primary state.

{mosads}The Thompson campaign, however, insists that the senator is taking New Hampshire “very seriously” and that he plans to spend a “significant” amount of time and resources there leading up to the primary. Instead of attending, the campaign will air an ad on Fox News Channel, which is broadcasting Wednesday’s debate.

“New Hampshire exit polls election after election show that voters there don’t make up their minds until the very last week,” campaign spokesman Todd Harris said. “We have months and months to go until that final week.”

A spokesman for rival and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Thompson’s early maneuvering indicates either he or the campaign is ignorant as to traditions of the early-voting state.

“New Hampshire voters require that candidates stand before them and answer the tough questions on big issues,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said. “They usually don’t like a candidate thinking they can just phone it in from a couch out in Burbank. You have to work hard for and earn their support. I think it’s a mistake to think that one 30-second paid advertisement is equal to 90 minutes of debating the issues that New Hampshire folks care about.”

Another rival campaign official said the decision to air an ad on the same channel on which the debate is running “is kind of in your face.”

The ad, entitled “Debate,” will run during the actual debate, and Thompson will appear on “The Tonight Show” later the same night.

Harris said the ad will consist of the former senator talking directly to the camera and steering people to his website. The campaign will follow with a second ad, entitled “I’m In,” slated to run all day Thursday, when Thompson is set to enter the race formally, beginning with an announcement tour that kicks off in Iowa.

“By driving viewers to our website to hear his webcast announcement and learn more about Fred, these ads play to that strength and help to build our network in advance of his first trips to the early primary states as a candidate,” campaign manager Bill Lacy said in a statement.

The chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Fergus Cullen, said Thompson’s decision starts him off on the “wrong foot” with state GOPers.

“I think it’s disappointing,” Cullen told The Hill. “He has clearly made a calculated decision to time his announcement specifically when he wouldn’t have to participate in [tonight’s] debate.”

Cullen said Thompson is sending Granite State voters the message that the former senator either is ill-prepared to talk policy or not ready to do the hard work of retail campaigning, relying instead on “advertising and webcasts.”

“Maybe it’ll work, and maybe it’s a strategic blunder,” Cullen said. “Time will tell.”

He said there is a “genuine interest” in Thompson in the state, but many, Cullen included, are frustrated that they have had no formal contact with the campaign this year.

A political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, Dante Scala, said Thompson’s decision not to attend the debate likely will increase frustration among those aggravated by his delayed entrance to the race.

Scala said Thompson can make up for it by having a sustained presence in the state.

“If he’s serious about campaigning in New Hampshire, then nobody’s going to care if he missed a debate in September,” Scala said.

Scala said anything less would hint at a strategy focused more on Iowa and South Carolina, but added that Michigan’s
decision to shift its primary to mid-January could complicate matters.

Some have questioned openly whether former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) also is paying lip service to the early states, looking only to blunt a rival candidate’s momentum heading into larger states where Giuliani is polling first, such as Florida, New York and New Jersey.

“It does look that way, and maybe it’s supposed to look that way,” Scala said. “But I’d be surprised [if] in the end there isn’t a battle between Republicans [in New Hampshire].

“Especially Giuliani, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t think, ‘Maybe I can steal one here.’”

The Giuliani campaign said it is taking New Hampshire very seriously, as evident by the former mayor’s many campaign trips to the state and his large staff there.