INDIANAPOLIS - "I'm with Fred," said the placards set up at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference at a table touting the noncampaign of actor, ex-senator and possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

In exchange for a $250 check, the GOP faithful and the curious could enter a private room to meet Thompson, a political insider playing the outsider who might be the nation's next Ronald Reagan -- or might not even run.

Some walked away from the closed-door fundraiser on Saturday afternoon convinced.

"He looks presidential," said Jeff Cardwell, 47, a conservative Christian lumber and hardware retailer. "He talks about going back to the basics. Putting God first in our country. I think he's the person everybody looks to as being the true conservative of our party."

But many of the party activists attending the conference from a dozen heartland states said they were seriously turned off by what they saw as Thompson's ambivalence about whether to run months after other presidential hopefuls have been hard at it.

Thompson's testing-the-waters bit is about to come to an end -- supporters expect an announcement early next month -- but in the Midwest some said he's waited too long.

"You can't wait to get a mandate from the people," said Elizabeth Morris, a community publisher and councilwoman in Dearborn County, Ind. "Either a person has a fire in the belly or they don't."

Said her husband, Gary, an investment banker: "He's already shown that inability to act quickly and decisively. That's the way it comes off."

Joan Wright, 79, wondered whether Thompson is lazy or egotistical.

"I'm afraid he does have the power because of recognition," she said, referring to Thompson's many television and movie roles. " 'Law & Order' is on every day of the week, a couple times. He's still playing games. These other guys are out there trying. I think at some point he ought to, too."

Still, there was an undeniable curiosity and affection for Thompson at the gathering.

Crowds swarmed him, men grinned like boys, and women blushed as he entered the ballroom of the Indianapolis Convention Center, where he gave a keynote speech.

At 65, Thompson, who, at 6-foot-6, towers over just about everyone, looks grayer and thinner than his television persona.

In a gentle, 25-minute speech, Thompson touched on what he sees as some key issues -- having faith in God and the traditions of the nation, securing the borders and taking Islamic radicalism seriously -- but his remarks were only broad strokes.

The Alabama native, who was raised and schooled in the law in Tennessee before working on Capitol Hill and making a mark in the Watergate investigation, also reminisced with his deep, sweet drawl about his parents and of the surprises and joys of marrying and parenting for a second time later in life.

He assured the strangers in the Midwestern audience that he has a lot in common with them. "I don't know about the particulars, but it all has to do with the love of country and the kind of world we want to leave behind," he said.

Bill Ruppel, an Indiana legislator, said Thompson is noticeably ramping up his energy level and becoming more comfortable talking issues. He had seen Thompson just three weeks earlier in Philadelphia, and "he was ... a lot better here. There, he was almost stiff. If he'd come off like he did in Philadelphia, I think he would have lost a lot of people tonight," Ruppel said.

But Jonathan Binkley, a retiree from Ohio, read Thompson's body language differently.

"He's comfortable with himself, but I don't sense the fire," Binkley said. "Despite the early flush of support, I think he's going to fade."