[Plutarch]

Since announcing, there hasn't BEEN a GOP debate.

You are correct, Thompson's announcement coincidently was scheduled just after the September 5th debate.

He has said he'll take part in some of them, but frankly, there are not that many people watching them, so he'll likely reach more people in his visits directly to the Republican voters.

FNC New Hampshire debate: Ratings…

Last night’s New Hampshire Republican debate on FNC was the most watched debate of the 2007 election season. 3.1 million viewers tuned in; 854,000 in the 25-54 Demo. FNC’s debate last night beat all of ABC’s, CNN’s and MSNBC’s previous debates this year based on Total Viewers. The above numbers are Live but the Live+SD numbers are even higher.

FDT is speaking in FL to crowds in the hundreds, no more than three per day. If Thompson had appeared at the debate the ratings would have even higher. And he could have appeared on Leno the next evening to double up. But it takes effort, talent and skill to perform in a debate, the lack of which provides the best explanation for Fred's no-show.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

If Thompson had appeared at the debate the ratings would have even higher. And he could have appeared on Leno the next evening to double up.

He announced on the Tonight Show and the ratings were much better there.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

it takes effort, talent and skill to perform in a debate,

No it doesn't... I have only seen one impressive candidate debate... that was Ronald Reagan...

All the rest totally suck. I could wipe the floor with any of them...

[Roses0508]

But it takes effort, talent and skill to perform in a debate, the lack of which provides the best explanation for Fred's no-show.

I'd take exception to the effort, talent and skill comment. The debates do NOT offer a platform for viewers to really learn something about a candidate. There is no time for any one candidate to answer a question in depth since the time is spread over so many candidates. Everyone has their little sound byte for each topic and that's all you hear - a sound byte. Tells you absolutely nothing. Its scripted, all the candidate has to do is pull out the sound byte pertinent (or not so pertinent) to the subject of the question.