Easily the most "different" of all the speeches thus far.  

While Mitt Romney and John McCain (speaking after FDT) used prepared speeches, teleprompters and a really good spit-shine... while Rudy Giuliani stretched a 15 minute time slot into a 40 minute policy discussion and while the Ron Pauls and the Duncan Hunters delivered the same speech they've delivered everywhere else they've found a live mic Thompson took the stage with the air of a man comfortable in his own skin and willing to let you get to know him.

When the other candidates wanted to slip us a little tongue Thompson seemed content to buy us dinner first and I, for one, found it kind of refreshing.

Now don't get me wrong, each of the other candidates delivered fine speeches.  Just fine.  And delivered them well.  But this one was a different animal.

The Die Hard II star (I only bring it up so often because I think it's THAT important) didn't jump right into in-depth doctorate level policy discussions.  He didn't flex his "campaign muscle" by delivering pithy catch phrases and choreographed applause lines.  And he didn't dive headfirst into red meat body blows.

He was content to take his time, introduce himself and his family, his wife and children along with him on his first trip to Michigan as an official candidate.  (They're gorgeous kids, by the way.)

Sure, the lights were bright and all of the TV cameras were trained on him but he wasn't afraid to stand up straight and take a deep breath as he discussed his background and the reasons behind his campaign.

This wasn't a speech that would fly after the launch of the general election campaign.  It was an introduction.  It was genuine.  It was long on drawl and short on soundbytes and it was a welcome outlier among a lot of great speeches.