It is pretty much the general consensus that Fred Thompson won the debate in South Carolina last night.

Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters:

“Who put the vitamins in Fred Thompson’s oatmeal? We have waited for Thompson to show up on the campaign trail, and tonight he finally did. He had energy, focus, a command of detail, and a willingness to finally engage with the other candidates on the stage. He took almost everyone else aback, and seized momentum that he only occasionally relinquished.”

NBC’s Chuck Todd writes:

Fred Thompson was funny, biting and energetic. Easily, his smoothest performance…

From The Moderate Voice:

THOMPSON lived up to his advance hype in this one. Finally. Endearing, witty and sharp.

The New York Times:

But it was Mr. Thompson’s performance, in which he shook off the laid-back style that has defined his candidacy, that provided some of the liveliest moments of the debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C..

Peter Robinson at National review Online said:

Thompson need only sustain this performance for a couple of days before votes, and money, start moving in his direction. But tonight the one consistent and authentic conservative in this race made himself the man to watch. When Fred roars, he roars.”

The question is: will Fred’s performance result in a bounce for him or a win for McCain? There is a few that think it is the latter.

The idea goes, if Fred can peel a some voters away from Huckabee to him, it doesn’t hurt McCain, who is leading in South Carolina. Fred would have to really make up some ground to catch, let alone pass McCain in South Carolina primary. But it is possible this debate could lead to just that result.

It was not that long ago that Fred was the leader in the Palmetto state. And considering the polling debacle that happened in New Hampshire, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fred win there.

If Fred is going to pull this off, he has got to not only tear Huckabee down for his liberal tendencies, but attack McCain for his. Go after the McCain/Kennedy amnesty plan. Go after McCain/Feingold. Go after the fact that McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts, not because of a lack of spending cuts, but because of the same class warfare reasons the liberals did.

Thompson’s campaign is far from dead. He has picked up a lot of endorsements recently, and is supposedly getting a big endorsement today. Fred’s performance in last night’s debate is just what he needed to do to revive the energy people had when they drafted him I think Fred’s performance helped him more than it helped McCain, but that is dependent on how he builds on it.