Thompson Has To Ask "Sleepy" Crowd For "Round Of Applause"

Later in the day, Thompson addressed a sleepy crowd over lunch at Tremont on Main in Marshalltown, IA. The crowd of about 60 people seemed nonplused by the candidate's speech, treating it much like a lecture with little applause or laughter. Thompson was even forced to finish his speech by saying, "First of all can I have a round of applause," admitting that he had to "drag" it out of them. On the street after the lunch, two independent voters, Kathy Larson and Mary Brooks, said that they were pretty disappointed by what they heard.

"I have a couple friends who urged me to come to hear him because she said he crosses party lines," Larson said. "So I, in good faith, came. But I didn't hear specifics...no substance, you know, feel good. Well I don't feel good."

"He was so vague," Brooks added.

"And folksy and feel good, but that doesn't cut it," Larson said. "We really wanted to know about foreign policy, and I don't think he said much about it at all."

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