Wyndham Owens, a 57-year-old builder in South Carolina, gives Fred Thompson a rather backhanded compliment in this AP article looking at Thompson's fast-rising popularity in the Palmetto state:

"To be honest with you, it seems to be a personality thing. From what little I've seen, he seems to be conservative, yet not stupid."

There's been a lot of talk about Thompson being a substance-free Republican flash in the pan - most notably by George Will two weeks ago - and also speculation that Thompson's high watermark in the polls will be the day before he gets in.

I remain unconvinced by such arguments, if only because the other top tier contenders in the Republican field continue to have major problems that, even though it remains early in the contest, they either haven't addressed or seem unable to put to rest.

Thompson has his own issues with the base from a policy standpoint, though none of them appear to be hugely significant. Furthermore, personality is not an unimportant piece of the pie, and when you combine policy preferences with the kind of likable demeanor Thompson possesses, it naturally generates a level of comfort among Republican primary voters that few, if any, of the other top tier candidates can match.

The issue of Thompson's experience - or lack thereof - does present a challenge, especially to the extent Republican primary voters are interested in and can be persuaded by the argument in favor of executive level "competence." Again, I'm not sure that isn't something Thompson can't overcome in the primary, and it hardly seems reasonable Thompson will suffer in the general election on the experience question when matched up against Clinton, Obama, and Edwards (though Thompson or any other Republican nominee will face the drag of the Bush administration and the charge of its "incompetence.")

Thompson has often said that while he hasn't gone around ambitiously knocking down doors in his life, when doors have opened he's had the good sense to walk through them. When you look at Thompson in the context of the Republican primary field, the door could hardly be open any further than it is right now.