Last night, I took in the debate at the home of my friend John Clarey, here in Orange County. Over some pizza and really great Napa Valley wine, about ten of us watched the array of GOP Presidential hopefuls try to ‘stake their claim’ in a format where the sheer number of candidates really limits the amount of time that any one candidate has to communicate their message to an attentive national audience.
Today’s FlashReport is loaded with coverage of the debate. For our ‘exclusive’ coverage, we have four columns (in addition to this page). California Republican Party Vice Chairman Tom Del Becarro was on hand in South Carolina and was up quite early to send in his extensive observations. In addition, we have columns from Congressman John Campbell, Congresswoman Mary Bono, and former Secretary of State Bill Jones — on behalf of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain respectively. You can see all of their submissions on our main page. In addition to our coverage, we also have links to a significant number of main stream media articles and columns on the debate. So here at the FR, we have you covered in terms of post-debate analysis! Of course, you are welcome to add yours as a comment below…
I will keep my personal observations very short, but here they are…
Right now, Rudy Giuliani needs to have his campaign supporters begin a ground-level campaign to keep U.S. Rep. Ron Paul IN the future debates. If you missed the debate last night, click on this video excerpt and you will know exactly what I mean… My thoughts continue below the video.
It is always hard to pick "winners" and "losers" in this kind of forum where, as I critiqued above, no one really has an substantial time to say anything. That said, unlike the Reagan Library debate, I really thought Mayor Giuliani was in great form last night. The video excerpt shows him really capturing a dramatic moment, but his performance throughout the debate was really… Presidential. I was impressed.
Mitt Romney was great on the issues, but really was pummeled (not by his opponents by rather) by the Fox News panel for his changes in policy positions over the years. I thought that he performed well, and his comment about doubling the size of our presence at GitMo in Cuba one praise at the Clarey Home (did I mention that Clarey is a BIIIG Mitt man?). I thought that in this debate, like the last one, Romney continued to solidify his presence, and gains simply because as a relatively unknown candidate, this gave him another chance to ‘introduce’ himself to viewers.
McCain was consistent. In the first debate, I really praised McCain for exceeding my expectations. Going into this one, I really upped the bar that McCain needed to reach — and he did so. I think that this style of debate suits him — we’ll see how it goes when the field narrows quite a bit.. McCain wins the award for "attire helps make the man" — the dark suit really took years off — he needs to keep wearing those.
As for the "second tier" candidates. FR friend Duncan Hunter was credible, and decisive. Mike Huckabee, while forced to defend tax hikes he signed as Governor, was really in top form. It seems like Jim Gilmore didn’t have the time he needed to make his case. Ron Paul, whom I admire greatly as one of the most principled members of the House, needs to take some "Debate 101" sessions before the next go-around. While I love Sam Brownback, I came away from the debate disappointed in finding out that he is apparently pro-amnesty. Tom Tancredo failed to separate himself from the pack. Tommy Thompson needs to just return to his day job.
The debate winner: Rudy (with a big push from Ron Paul — moments DO make debate winners).
The other debate winner: Ronald Reagan, the most mentioned politician nearly twenty years after leaving the White House.
The loser: President Bush. I’m sure he was mentioned, but it’s hard to recall amidst the ever present Reagan references.
I will close by echoing the first observation in Tom Del Becarro’s column today — our candidates are ALL so much better than the Democrats. That is FOR SURE.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:00 am
First of all, Romney’s pro Second Amendment “support of the Assult Rifle Ban” (doesn’t he remember the 1994 Congressional Election) canned him for me. Giuliani’s stand on social issues and Mc Cain’s immigration stand canned them for me. Only Duncan Hunter had a resume worthy to be called Republican Candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America. It is a sad state of affairs when all the big money and those who would otherwise be called conservative jump in and support the one they perceive as the winner, not the one that is the best candidate for the nation and who has the best resume for the job. Politics above principle? No wonder we lost Congress last November. The Republican Party Kingmakers better take their collective heads out of their collective @$$&$ or we will loose the White House in 2008.
dr gary