Fred Thompson’s running an ad during tonight’s debate. The debate starts at 9 p.m. EST, and goes for ninety minutes, so you figure this commercial will run about 9:45 p.m. or so. I’m told it’s running just before, on Bill O’Reilly.

Perhaps it will say, “Tune in to the Tonight Show, in less than two hours on NBC!”

No, little birds are telling me it will be a 30 second ad produced by Nelson Warfield. An updated version which speaks in the present tense about the announcement video (basically, no “tomorrow” in the sentence about access to the web announcement) will run tomorrow throughout the day on Fox News Channel.

Thompson has the first two segments on the Tonight Show, which should take him until at least 12, maybe a little after that. At midnight, he’s unveiling a 15-minute web video.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden is jabbing Thompson’s move, saying “Tomorrow night is an opportunity to spend an hour and half with New Hampshire voters and talk to them about issues that are important to them… Contrast that with 30 seconds in a paid ad.”

Yes, but it’s not an hour and half with New Hampshire voters, it’s an hour and a half divided among Rudy, Mitt, McCain, Huckabee, Brownback, Tancredo, Ron Paul, and Duncan Hunter.