A battle with John McCain for third place might have been just what former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson needed to stay in the race. Rumors swirled early Thursday that Thompson would pull out of the race and join the John McCain camp if his poll numbers were low.

“It’s pretty clear that we’re going to have a ticket to the next dance,” Thompson said. “Are you ready to go?”

Thompson supporters filled up the Des Moines Marriott ballroom and watched as the results came in.

“I’m very surprised actually, I thought he would do much lower than that. He had so little money compared to the other candidates, and he gained a lot of momentum I think recently,” said Fred Temple, of Des Moines.

Thompson was neck and neck with John McCain all night, and finished well ahead of Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani.

“It looks like somebody has to carry a clear conservative message and it looks like it has to be me,” Thompson said.

Thompson is considered to be a right-wing conservative and promises to be tough on immigration and abortion.

“I think that he would be the most viable candidate in the general election and I think that he’s a very consistent conservative and would want to lower government spending and force the rule of law,” Temple said.

Thompson supporters erupted into a frenzy and chanted, “Go, Fred, Go!” every time there was a television live look-in at the rally.

Even though Mike Huckabee was projected the winner early on in the night, Thompson supporters were on the edge of their seat. Thompson and McCain see-sawed back and forth for third place multiple times throughout the night.

Thompson arrived at the downtown Marriot at 10:45 p.m. and wasted no time in getting to the podium to thank his supporters.

“It doesn’t look like anybody’s tired. It looks like some people are ready to go on,” Thompson said.

Tim Foster, of Summertime, Tenn., traveled from Thompson’s home state to help him in the caucus and said he is very encouraged with the third-place finish.

Iowa Congressman Steve King spent time at the podium praising all of the Iowa Republican caucus-goers, saying they all answered the call in numbers never seen before.

“This is the end of a long process in Iowa, tomorrow it will be safe for Iowans to walk the streets again because all of the politicians will be gone and all of the news media will be gone,” Thompson said.

The celebration began after Thompson gave his speech, and country music and drinking filled the ballroom.