Fred Thompson joked that he was tired and in need of caffeine. But when his presidential campaign landed at Surfside Jenny's restaurant outside of Myrtle Beach the morning after last week's GOP debate, he wasted no time ripping into his main target the night before, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee, Thompson said, isn't committed to the conservative principles embodied by Ronald Reagan and is so out of touch that he favors a federal smoking ban.

"This (election) is about the heart and soul of the Republican Party and where the Republican Party is going to go over the next several years," Thompson said.

Southern values

A group that promotes protection of the Confederate flag is airing radio ads during conservative talk shows in South Carolina that praise Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and criticize John McCain and Mitt Romney for voicing objections to the flag.

The ads are paid for by Americans for the Preservation of American Culture, a Tennessee-based political organization that has been in existence since 2001, according to Federal Election Commission records.

"Waving a confederate battle flag in front of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney turns out to be like waving a red flag in front of a bull — he charges," the ad states. "Romney let fly in the CNN debate, saying, "That flag shouldn't be shown,' and 'that's not a flag I recognize."'

In its anti-McCain ad, an announcer states: "Mitt Romney is trying, but when it comes to bashing the Confederate flag he can't hold a candle to John McCain. McCain's been doing it — calling the flag a racist symbol — for years."

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Combined wire service reports