Not the way to combat a reputation for laziness

I'd tended to discount the line on Fred Thompson all summer long that he was lazy, figuring that that was just scuttlebutt from his opponents and that energy in a Senator was not necessarily what I was looking for. But he's been providing more evidence for that reputation since he announced his candidacy. And now voters in New Hampshire are starting to notice that he's not campaigning very strenuously for their support. And they're a state that likes to see candidates up front and personal.

Besides participating in his first presidential debate in Michigan last Tuesday, Thompson was missing from the campaign trail. The former Tennessee senator and star of NBC's "Law & Order" was scheduled to be in New Hampshire this weekend, but canceled.

New Hampshire voters noticed.

"He's a late entry. That will probably hurt him," said Geri Gormley, of Bow, who visited with McCain but remains uncommitted. "We're grass roots. Candidates come up and pick our brains, one on one. We had (Barack) Obama's staff come to our door today. That's good strategy."

Thompson was supposed to visit a fundraising breakfast for Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta on Friday. But on Thursday afternoon, Guinta's campaign e-mailed guests to let them know it wasn't happening. The note cited "scheduling conflicts for the senator."

Thompson is scheduled to surface on Monday for a Fox News Channel interview, and evening remarks to the Conservative Party of New York.

Thompson has been to New Hampshire just once since he formally entered the race in September, and that was for a two-day trip that included visits to a chili cook-off, three bars and a rally. The New Hampshire Union Leader, the state's largest newspaper, said in an editorial last week that Thompson's pledge to campaign here often hasn't proved true.

The newspaper suggested Thompson speak to McCain, "who knows a thing or two about winning New Hampshire primaries. You can't do it if you don't show up," the editorial said.

Thompson might think that he can win the nomination through some sort of innovative campaign that diminishes the need for lots of personal appearances, but substituting interviews on Fox and a few canned speeches isn't going to hack it. But having a story saying that he hasn't campaigned since Tuesday's debate isn't going to help to fight that reputation for laziness.