THE VILLAGES, Fla. -- He doesn't just play one on television. Fred Thompson, a "Law and Order" star and former Tennessee senator, is the real deal: a Republican presidential candidate with name recognition, a strong presence in national polls, and deep roots in his party's conservative wing.

At least, that's the hope of thousands of Floridians who flocked to see Mr. Thompson as he crisscrossed the Sunshine State last week in a caravan of buses.

"My philosophy does not depend on my geography. I say it in one state and I say it in the other state. I say it in northern Florida and I say it southern Florida. That's the only way I know how to do it," Mr. Thompson told an enthusiastic crowd in this retirement community northwest of Orlando.

He was light on specifics. But he served up the rhetorical red meat of the GOP base: "It has to do with the sanctity of life. It has to do with the protection of the Second Amendment. It has to do with lower taxes."

David Mills was pleased.

"I like him. He has a presence about him. Just his voice alone commands respect," Mr. Mills, 62, said, pounding his fist into an open hand. "He's strong."

After months of flirtation, Mr. Thompson officially jumped into the 2008 race Sept. 5 during an appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," injecting a new dynamic into a Republican field dominated by what some conservatives derisively call "Rudy McRomney" -- former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

All three have strayed from some core Republican principles, such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage, leaving an opening for a candidate like Mr. Thompson.

"He has a lot of values that I share. I like the fact that he's a conservative," said Herb Holmes, 62, who grew up on the North Side and is one of hundreds of former Pittsburghers who live in The Villages. "I'm disappointed that he started a little bit late."

Indeed, Mr. Thompson's late start could be a liability. Although the presidential election is more than a year away, the primary season is closing fast. Top-tier candidates have been raising millions and hitting the campaign trail for months.

Defying leadership in both parties, Florida has moved its primary election to Jan. 29. So far, the Democratic candidates have agreed to abide by the dictates of their party and not campaign in Florida. The Republicans have not issued a similar ban.

Questionable start

Mr. Thompson's initial organizing efforts seemed to flounder, from a quick turnover of top staff to lackluster fundraising to questions about the prominent role of his wife, Jeri, 40.

Some pundits have described Mr. Thompson's eight years in the U.S. Senate as undistinguished; others question whether he really has the drive needed for a grueling presidential race.

"It would require personal traits and a work ethic that we've never seen before," Charlie Cook, editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, said in a meeting with reporters in Washington, D.C. this month.

But Mr. Thompson's advisers say their candidate has disproved such criticisms with a packed schedule of appearances in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina since formally joining the race.

And the other Republican candidates have seen their own political fortunes take a dip. Mr. McCain's campaign has spent most of its money. Mr. Giuliani's poll numbers have dropped amid questions about his left-leaning social positions as mayor of New York. Mr. Romney has faced similar questions.

Mr. Giuliani is still holding onto frontrunner status. He was at 32 percent in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week, while Mr. Thompson was in second place at 26 percent, up six percentage points from Aug. 1. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll put Mr. Thompson one point behind Mr. Giuliani.

Mr. Thompson and Mr. Giuliani also are in a statistical dead heat in South Carolina, a crucial early primary state. In Florida, Mr. Thompson trails the former mayor by 11 points, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. It's a sizeable gap, but not insurmountable.

The South may be Mr. Thompson's key to winning the Republican nomination. He faces tougher competition in New Hampshire and Iowa, where the other campaigns have been on the ground for months. But he describes South Carolina and Florida as part of his Tennessee "neighborhood."

On Thursday, Mr. Thompson's buses -- emblazoned with his face and the motto "Security, Unity, Prosperity" -- started in Jacksonville, near Florida's northern border with Georgia, and ended in Miami, making stops in The Villages and Celebration, GOP strongholds.

Proud of his roots

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate being back somewhere where they don't think I talk with a funny accent," Mr. Thompson told a crowd in downtown Jacksonville, as he sweated profusely under an intense Florida summer sun. "I'm going to be down here a whole lot."

His stump speech, which he delivered with the ease of a professional actor, emphasized conservatism. He told a story of his humble roots, calling it just another "American story."

"I've had an opportunity to see life from a lot of different vantage points," he said, "from eating dinner at two a.m. on the graveyard shift at the factory down in Lawrenceburg where I grew up, to being able to have fine dinners in foreign palaces with national leaders of foreign countries a little later on when I was in the U.S. Senate."

His parents, he said, "came in off the farm. When they were young they didn't have a chance to go to high school; they had to go to work."

As a college student, Mr. Thompson read Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative." As a young lawyer, Mr. Thompson worked alongside former Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn., on the Senate Watergate Committee.

He returned to Tennessee, where he took on a lawsuit that targeted a sitting governor and eventually launched his acting career. His film credits include "The Hunt for Red October" and "Die Hard 2."

In 1994, Mr. Thompson ran for the Senate, driving across the state in a used red pickup truck and closing a double-digit gap in the polls to win the seat once held by former Vice President Al Gore.

He served until 2003, a time period that, he tells voters, saw tax cuts, a balanced budget, and welfare reform.

Then he returned to Hollywood.

"I always said when they wanted somebody to look mean and work cheap, they'd call me," he told Florida voters in Jacksonville.

Now, amid concerns of terrorism, lax border security, and a faltering war effort in Iraq, GOP voters are again looking for someone with a tough demeanor. Mr. Thompson is eager to play that role.

"We've learned some things over these last few years, and we're going to be mindful of all that, but once we've determined that something is in our national security and we plant the American flag, there will be no more cutting and running," he said to wild applause. "The American people do not want to turn this country over to folks who are weak on national security. I can tell you that."

The candidate skipped the details. He gave no indication of how long he thought U.S. troops might stay in Iraq or how his conservative fiscal policies would cover the war's hefty price tag. But supporters weren't looking for nuance.

'He's not a wimp'

"I like the fact that he's actually for winning the war," said Gary Briggs, 38, a police officer from outside Jacksonville who served in the Marines in the first Gulf War. "I get the impression that he's not a wimp. He'll stand up for himself, not like the guy we have now."

Mr. Thompson didn't mention the current president, but he didn't have to. His supporters were willing to draw the comparison on their own.

Mr. Briggs said President Bush had failed to counter six years of attacks from Democrats and liberals. Others said the president had failed on a more substantive level.

The Iraq war has been a "fiasco," said Mr. Holmes, the former Pittsburgher.

"I want a change. I think some very bad decisions were made," he said. "I think that you need to exhaust all the possibilities before going to war."

Nor did Mr. Thompson mention another Republican president and former actor, Ronald Reagan. Again, he didn't have to.

"Fred Thompson could be the Reagan of the 21st Century," said Florida state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Republican, after Mr. Thompson sipped sugary coffee at a restaurant popular with Cuban exiles in Miami's Little Havana, crucial territory for any GOP hopeful. "He doesn't just come here and say 'Que viva Cuba libre.' He knows Castro is a tyrant."

Mr. Thompson's conservative credentials are far from perfect. As a senator, he supported a push for campaign finance reform and worked on the creation of Department of Homeland Security, a sprawling federal bureaucracy not loved by conservatives.

The 65-year-old is on his second marriage. As a lobbyist in the early 1990s, he worked on behalf of a group that wanted to win changes in federal limitations on abortion counseling.

But his Senate voting record was "100 percent" anti-abortion, he told supporters.

"I'm simply an American who knows his country, who loves his country, who's concerned about our future and knows we're going to need strong leadership in the future," he said.

That's all many people needed to hear.

When Mr. Thompson joined the Republican field this month, Sally Stocks, 65, was pleased. She came to The Villages to see the candidate for the first time.

"He strikes me as an honest man," said Mrs. Stocks, formerly of Irwin "I think he has high moral values."

Is she ready to vote for Mr. Thompson?

"Absolutely."