MANCHESTER, Iowa -- Republican Fred Thompson says if he can be a presidential horse for conservatives to ride in the campaign, "All I've got to say is saddle me up."

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Thompson was touring Iowa by bus rather than on horseback Tuesday, saying he's got the potential to come on fast in the final days before the state's Jan. 3 caucuses.

Thompson, who has occasionally been labeled a less-than-energetic campaigner, spoke with enthusiasm to about 30 people at a town hall in Manchester while his blue campaign bus, emblazoned with a huge picture of his head and shoulders, waited outside.

"We're taking it now to where it needs to be," Thompson told his audience. "This is where it starts. This is where we are. This is where we're going to be. ... We're going to make sure we meet everybody we can possibly meet."

Thompson is spending the final two weeks of the campaign in Iowa traveling the state with his wife, Jeri.

He referred to the GOP debate last week in Iowa, where he drew praise for refusing to comply when asked for a show of hands on a question about global warming.

"I said, `Nope,"' and everybody pulled their hand down and looked around," Thompson said. "I just said to my buddies up there, `How are you going to stand up to the leaders of Iran and North Korea if you can't stand up to an overbearing moderator?"'

He made his saddle-me-up comment after saying a newspaper had said he had given conservatives "a horse to ride" in the campaign.

Thompson is battling for a third-place showing in Iowa, where former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee recently surged ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in state polls. No candidate has gone on to become the nominee without placing in the top three in Iowa.