It's official: The guy who played the totally lame air traffic controller in Die Hard 2 is running for president! Fred Thompson swaggered onto Leno last night and started slangin' his presidential candidacy with his usual folksy country lawyer schtick. According to Thompson, he and his wife just "started around the kitchen table in late March, talking about it, thinking about it, thinking about what kind of world and what kind of country our kids were going to grow up in ... and I decided that it was time for me to step up."

Though Thompson has taken some heat for skipping last night's Republican debate in New Hampshire, he was clearly pleased with his choice to hit the late night circuit instead. When Leno asked about debates, Thompson said "I don't think much of them ... I don't think it's a very enlightening forum, to tell you truth." Well, these debates may not like him very much either. Last night's event started with a question essentially begging each candidate to try to pee on Thompson's Guccis. The most self-flattering comment came from Giuliani: "He's done a pretty good job of playing my part on Law & Order. I personally prefer the real thing."

But for all the brilliance that took place in New Hampshire, there's no question that the night belonged to Thompson (and NBC), who flew to Iowa after his TV appearance and joked, "It's a lot more difficult to get on the Tonight Show than it is to get into a presidential debate."