Thompson's Audition For The Nomination

This column was written by The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

By most accounts the former senator from Tennessee hasn't exactly wowed any audiences since he officially became a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. So today's the big day: his first debate with the other candidates.

I went on IMDB to check out Thompson's career in film and TV just to see if that might lend some clues to how he'll perform.

Thompson of course has starred for several years on "Law & Order." He's pretty perfect in his role District Attorney Arthur Branch; 116 episodes worth, which means if you turn on a TV anywhere in the world, within about 10 minutes, he'll pop up someplace. He was in "Die Hard 2" and "Days of Thunder." He even appeared in an episode of "Sex and The City."

You'd think all that acting would be pretty good preparation for what he's doing now. But when you're on a TV or movie set, you don't have to schmooze much and somebody else tells you what to say.