When the lightning crackled in New Hampshire and knocked out the microphones, Mayor Giuliani, once a parochial-school kid, cracked that God must be angry with him. But the real invisible presence shaking up the Republican primary debate on CNN last night was not the Almighty. It was Fred Thompson.

One might call him the 6’5″ elephant in the room — but he wasn’t in the room at all. He was in Fox News’s Washington, D.C., studio, waiting to go on “Hannity & Colmes” for a softball interview that would serve as his own personal post-game show, free of such petty distractions as a moderator or, say, his opponents.

Sean Hannity tried to get the former Tennessee senator to weigh in on the just-concluded melee, but Mr. Thompson was having none of it. “I don’t want to talk about other candidates,” he said. “I’m sure that they’re good guys.”

At one level, Mr. Thompson could afford the condescension. Since news leaked out last week (first reported in the New York Sun) that Mr. Thompson was setting up a testing-the-waters committee to explore a presidential bid, his poll numbers have shot up. Two major national polls released just yesterday put him in second place in the Republican primary field — Rasmussen at 17%, behind Mr. Giuliani’s 23%; and McLaughlin & Associates at 18%, behind Mr. Giuliani’s 24%. That’s ahead of major candidates like Senator McCain and Mitt Romney, who have spent years preparing to run and building campaign organizations.

At another level, however, Mr. Thompson really couldn’t afford to be so glib. While he’s often compared to President Reagan, Mr. Thompson’s predicament could hardly be more antithetical to that faced by the Gipper in 1979. Reagan was a man with a message in search of a moment; Mr. Thompson is a man with a moment in search of a message.

The moment Mr. Thompson has found himself in is clear: The leading three candidates for the Republican nomination — particularly the front-runner, Mr. Giuliani — are seen by much of the conservative base as too liberal. Mr. Thompson is a conservative, a commanding speaker, an affable fellow, an actor with a tremendous amount of name (and face and voice) recognition. And, with little more than that, he has found himself practically drafted into running.

But why does he want to run? Mr. Hannity asked the question straight away.

The answer from Mr. Thompson was not silly by any means. But it rambled and lacked intensity. We face a grave threat from our terrorist enemy, he said. We face growing economic competition from overseas, he said. We face an entitlement crisis, he said.

True, true, and true. But what would we do about any of this?

Mr. Hannity asked what we should do next on Iraq.

“Take the next step,” was Mr. Thompson’s reply — see what General Petraeus says needs to be done.

Mr. Hannity asked what should be done about Iran.

“That’s almost an impossible one to answer,” was Mr. Thompson’s reply — but he expressed optimism that Iran’s regime might fall of its own weight.

Mr. Thompson’s most impassioned answer of the night came on the question of whether he would grant an immediate pardon to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in jail for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation. “I would, absolutely,” he said. “It’s a gross injustice.”

That’s all well and good. But after a night where the 10 Republicans actually in the race grappled in-depth with questions such as immigration, Iraq, Iran, health care, and the role of faith in public life, Mr. Thompson’s show looked like a lot of lighting and no thunder.