Fred Thompson told a Laconia audience full of veterans yesterday that America needs to strengthen its military might. Then he took exactly three questions before leaving in a black SUV for the airport and South Carolina, where polls suggest the former Tennessee senator is more competitive.

A CNN/WMUR poll taken last week shows Thompson, a Republican, in sixth place in New Hampshire. The latest South Carolina poll shows Thompson tied for first place there with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Thompson has visited New Hampshire fewer than a half-dozen times since announcing his candidacy in September. His visit to a VFW hall in Laconia was the second of two campaign stops yesterday. Before a crowd of about 70, Thompson spoke of the "multiplicity of threats" that America faces from terrorist groups and "rogue nations" developing nuclear weapons.

The United States isn't doing enough to protect itself, Thompson said.

"We do not have enough soldiers or Marines, we are stretched too thin and we've got equipment that's worn out," he said. "And we've got to do better than that as a nation. We have to reprioritize."

Thompson has a four-pronged plan to make the military stronger: increase defense spending from 4.1 to 4.5 percent of the gross domestic product, not including what it takes to fund the war in Iraq; grow the ranks of the armed forces; modernize military equipment; and better support veterans.

Thompson repeated some of that plan at the VFW hall. Standing before a blue curtain, with a spotlight glinting off his gold rings, he then took his time answering questions before being ushered out the door. At an earlier event at a gun shop in Bristol, Thompson took a swipe at fellow Republican Rudy Guiliani, who's polling second or third in New Hampshire.

Giuliani "relates everything to New York City," he said, according to the Associated Press. "Well, New York City is not emblematic of the rest of the country. . . . I think the sentiments of those people in the rest of the country are in support of the Second Amendment - which is where I've always been and I don't think he's ever been."

Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was quick to respond to Thompson, an attorney and actor who played a New York district attorney on NBC's Law & Order.

"Coming from a man who . . . played the role Rudy Giuliani actually lived on a television series, I am not sure what to make of the senator's comments except to say results are results," Kate Levinson, communications director for the former New York City mayor, said in a statement. "Time and again . . . Rudy Giuliani delivered, and no amount of political posturing will change that."

Don Doherty, a veteran from Laconia, said after Thompson's VFW appearance that he thought the 6-foot-5-inch lawmaker was honest and to the point. He and fellow veteran Douglas McGowan said they liked what Thompson had to say, especially about the military, but they don't think he's viable.

"I wish he had a chance, but I don't think he does," said McGowan, also of Laconia. Thompson's late start will hurt him in the primary, he said. "He should've been in it a year ago," McGowan said.

Thompson insisted that he's in the race for the Republican presidential nomination because the country needs leaders with credibility who are willing to tell the truth, whether people want to hear it or not. Part of that truth, he said, is that we "can't have guns and butter forever."

America has "a lot of vulnerabilities," Thompson said. "And my bottom line to the American people is, this is going to cost a little more than what we've been talking about. I don't think anybody's been really honest about that. And that means we may not be able to have everything else we want."

Thompson said he doesn't want to "be Chicken Little," but he said the country needs to have nuclear arms "because I don't want to be the one to explain why, when we get hit again from one of these directions, why we didn't do everything in the world that we could do to protect ourselves."

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