MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson left a trail of half-empty coffee cups, barely touched Diet Pepsi glasses and a throng of reporters behind on Sunday as he scurried to retail-style stops and an afternoon rally.

The former “Law & Order” actor and senator, on his first trip to New Hampshire as a declared candidate, jumped into the person-to-person campaigning voters demand – and that he has been late to begin. He stopped by Manchester bars and restaurants as voters watched football, drank beer and asked Thompson about immigration, the economy and politics. He even signed a magazine that featured Thompson on its cover with the headline, “Lazy Like a Fox.”

“I’m going to lose more weight on this thing. I’ll never get close enough to food to eat it,” he joked with the throng of reporters and photographers chasing him.

It’s the type of retail-style politics New Hampshire voter demand and thus far has been absent from the former prosecutor who entered the race only last week. Thompson faces tough odds in early voting states, where his rivals have spent months building organizations and visiting voters. But, at least based on Sunday’s performance, Thompson is committed to playing catch-up.

“I’m going to put myself before the people and leave it to the hands of the people and the Lord,” Thompson said in a Manchester sports bar. “That’s all I can ask. … If the American people think someone else will be a better president, I want them to do whatever they think will be best and I’ll abide by that.”

Thompson made his way through a Manchester restaurant, leaving behind half-finished orders before finally grabbing a hamburger as a take-out order.

“I would always go for a burger, all things being equal,” he told a waitress.

At his first public stop of the day, he left behind half a cup of coffee. “That’s pretty good coffee. I hate to leave it,” he bemoaned.

Thompson knows retail-style stops are necessary for any candidate trying to have a decent showing in early states. A day earlier, he visited a Republican women’s chili dinner at a farm, just after a rain storm blew through.

“If I can get out and have days like this and see people like this, you know, it makes no difference to me whether it’s raining or not,” Thompson said.

He said he hopes his ability to talk with voters will give him an advantage of his long-campaigning rivals.

“This is where it’s at. Breaking out of the Beltway, getting past the pundits and all the experts and all the people who make their money on politics, getting out there and talking with the people is what it’s all about.”

He later planned a rally at Nashua City Hall, where then-Massachusetts Sen. John Kennedy launched his New Hampshire campaign for the 1960 election.

Thompson rejected a comparison with another former president, Ronald Reagan.

“The only comparison I like with regard to Ronald Reagan – which nobody can live up to – is that he was so believable. He was such a good communicator because he believed so intensely in his principles and he stuck with them. the camera doesn’t lie. When you do that, people see that,” Thompson told reporters outside a Manchester restaurant. “To the extent that one could compare us in that respect, I’d be honored. Other than that, there won’t be another Ronald Reagan in my lifetime.”