By Dan McCue

COLUMBIA -- U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, who has electrified the race for the 2008 Republican nomination for president with his late entry into the race, will make his first campaign appearance in South Carolina on June 27.

Thompson, who formed a campaign exploratory committee last week and unveiled a campaign Web site, will be the featured speaker at a roundtable discussion hosted by the S.C. Republican Party.

The event is at the Clarion Town House Hotel in downtown Columbia.

“Sen. Thompson has a long and distinguished record of public service, and we’re honored he’ll join us in Columbia,” said S.C. Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson. “Republican leaders from across our state look forward to the opportunity to discuss with Sen. Thompson important issues facing South Carolina and the nation.”

Thompson, who is also well known as an actor, having most recently played a prosecutor on NBC’s “Law & Order,” represented his home state of Tennessee in the U.S. Senate from 1994 to 2003 where he was chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs.

A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that while former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani still holds a lead in the race for the Republican nomination, garnering the support of 27% of Republicans and Independents polled in the survey, Thompson came in right behind with 21%, handily besting candidates like U.S. Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who have already spent months on the campaign trail.

Of the Democratic candidates for president, the poll found that little has changed. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains a solid lead at 33%, followed by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at 22%. Running third, with 15%, is former Vice President Al Gore, who maintains that he is not running, but still has time to change his mind.

Potential candidates wishing to compete in the South Carolina primary have until Nov. 1 to secure a place on the ballot.