Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is choosing a county with a large farmworker population to announce an immigration policy Tuesday that will include stripping federal grant money from cities and states that don't report illegal immigrants...

A major part of the plan will be to reduce the number of illegal immigrants by increasing enforcement of existing law. Sanctuary cities, where city employees are not required to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities, would lose discretionary federal grants, said a campaign source who didn't want to be named because the plan hasn't been announced.

Thompson will also call for stronger laws to force employers to verify that workers aren't illegal immigrants, a more rigorous system to track who is coming in and out of the country and a plan to increase prosecution of "coyotes," smugglers who bring illegal immigrants across the Mexican border, the source said. He will also talk about border security.

The Brody File: "Fred Thompson looked much better tonight. It's the most aggressive he's been to date. He came out swinging against Giuliani."

The Corner's Rich Lowry: "Fred Hits the Lazy Question Out of the Park."

The Corner's Mark Hemingway: "In the last debate, Thompson started out shaky and finished strong. In this debate, he started out really strong and ended up shaky as the debate went on ... He was better this time around, but not improved enough to convince anybody he's the horse to back."

The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "That Fred hit on Rudy from abortion on down, was a sting ray."

Right Wing News: "The Winner ... Fred Thompson: Fred put on a much better performance than last time around. He was funnier, snappier, had more energy, and came across as more genuinely conservative than Mitt or Rudy. However, he does need to stop looking at his notes so often."

Townhall's Matt Lewis: "I think Fred Thompson did quite well. Once again, he ended strong. People tend to remember the first thing and the last thing they see, and if this is true, Fred Thompson had a very good night."

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "Thompson's ability to slug it out with Giuliani, coupled with overall improvement in the quality of his answers, makes him one of tonight's winners. ... if this debate is remembered at all, it will probably be because Fred Thompson, arguably a sleeping giant, seemed to wake up."

Conservative Christians favor Thompson by a 10-point margin over his closest rival, Rudy Giuliani.

It%u2019s a sharp reversal for Giuliani. The putative GOP front-runner had been winning social conservative backing despite his history of support for abortion rights and gay rights.

Thompson has changed that.

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The Ask Fred series continues, this time with a response to Instapundit's Joel Anderson of Mesa, AZ who asks about completing the fence along our southern border.

Fred answers: "It's the law."

My...what a novel idea that...

Texas FredHeads
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I am more of a 12th Commandment man: Don%u2019t speak ill of them until they speak ill of me. And then really speak ill of them.

We have gotten so used to speaking of the President of the United States "running the country" that most of us no longer notice how unrealistic and unAmerican that expression is. The whole point of the American Revolution was to establish a country without anyone to run it. We don't want or need a president who is inclined to run things. We need a President who leads and inspires. Fred, with his non-managerial background, is the only candidate of either party who seems to get this.

Much ink has been wasted making the obvious point that Thompson is not an "outsider." After a long career in Washington as a staffer and Senator, as a lawyer and a lobbyist Fred Thompson is as well connected as any "insider" here. But for his entire career Thompson has stood outside the bipartisan consensus that, when it comes to government activity, more is better. His commitment to governmental modesty is most often expressed as concern for the principle of federalism. That commitment put him on the short end of some very lopsided votes as a Senator.