ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- There are two things Fred Thompson can't escape these days: his role on "Law and Order" and questions over whether he'll run for president. So he got them both out of the way in the opening moments of his address to the Connecticut Republican Party's Prescott Bush Dinner Thursday evening.

"All right, let's get the announcement out of the way," he told the crowd in Stamford. "'Law and Order' will return for an 18th season."

A woman in the back yelled, "But we need you in a different job!" Thompson smiled and said, "Can you speak a little louder?"

In his speech, Thompson criticized Democrats as he discussed terrorism, Iraq and national security. "Our choice is not whether or not we're going to fight. Our choice is where we're going to fight," Thompson said. "And the only debate going on right now with regard to this most important issue facing our country on the Democratic side of the aisle is the date of our surrender."

He added, "My friends, I don't think that the American people are going to turn the keys of this country over to a party that invests their political capital in defeat."

But Thompson also stressed his own party returning to their key issues and warned his fellow Republicans to "get nervous if they go the wrong way."

"Someone once said that a cat won't sit on a hot stove twice, but he won't sit on a cold stove ever," Thompson said. "Here we had an election that was traumatic for some people, and the media blamed it on Iraq. I think it had more to do with pork barrel spending and corruption than it did Iraq."

--CNN Political Desk Managing Editor Steve Brusk