With back to wall in S.C., Thompson wakes up
* Story Highlights
* Fred Thompson aggressively challenges Mike Huckabee in GOP debate
* Aides call South Carolina "last stand" for former senator from Tennessee
* "Law & Order" star a distant fourth in South Carolina, recent poll finds
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) -- It's win or go home time for Fred Thompson, and he finally appears to be responding to the challenge by shedding his laid-back campaigning style and aggressively attacking his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
Having failed to produce a strong showing in Iowa or New Hampshire, the former senator from Tennessee is banking on a win in South Carolina's January 19 GOP primary to revive his struggling campaign.
His advisers said South Carolina may be Thompson's "last stand," and recent polls find him in a distant fourth.
While admitting he has "some ground to make up," Thompson said South Carolina voters by primary day will "know where I stand and what I believe, and they'll know that where I stand on the issues does not depend on where I'm standing geographically, that what they see is what they get, and I'm the man I've always been and that's the way I'll be tomorrow." VideoWatch Thompson call Huckabee the wrong choice for thte GOP »
"A lot of these guys can't say that," he added.
Thompson has shrugged off criticism before that he has not shown "a fire in the belly" on the campaign trail. But he aggressively attacked rival Mike Huckabee during a debate Thursday in Myrtle Beach, accusing the former Arkansas governor of pursuing "liberal" policies that would undermine the GOP's conservative agenda.
"This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future," Thompson said. "On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution. You have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security. On the other hand, you have the direction that Gov. Huckabee would take us in. He would be a Christian leader, but he would also bring about liberal economic policies, liberal foreign policies." Watch Thompson take on HuckabeeVideo
Thompson said his more aggressive approach in the debate sprang from his passionate feelings about the topics raised.
"These debate things can turn into nothing more than an exchange of talking points and by the time these guys finish you forget what the question was," he said. "And so, we've had a little bit of that too, but tonight, they punched my buttons, they asked me the questions that I feel very strongly about. So I gave it to them."
With a little more than a week until South Carolina's primary, the former "Law & Order" television star is well behind the top-tier candidates. A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters released Thursday shows Thompson trailing Sen. John McCain, winner of the New Hampshire primary; Huckabee, the victor in the Iowa caucuses; and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
The survey found 25 percent for McCain, 18 percent for Huckabee, 17 percent for Romney and 9 percent for Thompson. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Reacting to Thompson's attacks, Huckabee said Friday that "Fred's finally waking up and finally realizing there is a race going on." VideoWatch Huckabee's response to Thompson »
"But after eight years in the Senate, I guess he has nothing to show for it other than he attended some meetings and cast some votes, made a few trips and became a Washington lobbyist," Huckabee said.
"He's not told us one thing he's done in eight years as a senator. He's attacked me, and the point is if he'd look at my record, he'd know that he's really, really needing some folks to come off the writers' strike and give him some better lines."
Like Thompson, Huckabee's trying to appeal to the state's socially conservative Republican voters. The former Baptist preacher's win in Iowa was attributed largely to strong support from evangelicals and a populist economic message.
Huckabee also uses a down-home speaking style to remind South Carolinians that he, too, is one of them.
During a campaign stop Wednesday while calling for the Internal Revenue Service's abolition, Huckabee said, "We have a saying in the South -- and I know you say it in South Carolina because I've said it here before and hear, 'Yeah' -- and that is if you can't fix something, with WD-40, partner, it can't be fixed."
Besides Huckabee, Thompson also faces a well-financed Romney campaign, and McCain, whose candidacy has been revived after his New Hampshire win.
While McCain's 2000 presidential bid essentially ended in South Carolina when he lost to George W. Bush, this time around the state's Republican establishment is largely backing the senator from Arizona.
Plus, a large pool of veterans in South Carolina are drawn to McCain's national security credentials and war-hero status -- he was a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam War. VideoWatch how McCain is trying to win in South Carolina »
CNN's Dana Bash contributed to this report.
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