GOP Debate Three Wrapup

The Hillary Spot - National Review ^ | 6/5/07 | Jim Geraghty

[finnman69]

A solid meaty debate. Because there’s less agreement among Republican candidates, you get policy disagreements and actual arguments, instead of can-you-top-this-I’m-so-committed-to-this-issue contests the Democrats have.

I’m going to score this a… Four Way Win. The four winners:

Rudy: Man, was he wearing a flame-retardant suit in that first debate? Because since then, he has been en fuego, as they say on SportsCenter. Loved the self-depreciating fear of thunder on the abortion issue. Eager to take it to the Democrats. Like with Hillary, it might be a bit early to go after the opposing party, as Rudy still needs to persuade people that he’s the best choice for nominee. But he did nothing to harm himself, and when you’re the frontrunner, that’s all you need.

Romney: As I was watching this, I thought, “I would be comfortable with Romney as the nominee.” The word “unflappable” comes to mind. Solid answer on a borderline unfair question on the Mormon thing. I’m struck by how he manages to squeeze an answer that’s usually pretty solid no matter what amount of time is available.

McCain: For going into this debate with a position on the immigration bill vociferously opposed by many Republicans, the Arizona Senator went out there and made the best case he could. Maybe the best case anyone could. I don’t think he changed that many minds, but he may have walked out of that debate with New Hampshire GOP voters’ respect, if not their votes… And he hit it out of the park in responding to the sister of the slain soldier – respectful, dignified, and from the gut.

Huckabee: Polished. Funny. Heartfelt on the religion answer, on the need to value life after birth as well as before… It’s tough to see him getting the nomination, but he’ll spur veep talk, and again – how great is it for the GOP to have a fourth (fifth, with Fred Thompson?) candidate as effective a communicator as he is?

The rest, in descending order:

Duncan Hunter: Really, a very solid performance; in a weaker field, he would be inching towards the top tier. May have scored some points hitting Rudy and Romney on guns near the end. As usual, after listening to him it’s easy to see him as a future Secretary of Defense.

Brownback: Eh. I want to like him, I really do. He just doesn’t shine up there, and the three-state Iraq plan, even if it were brilliant, was a weak-tea answer to the woman who lost her brother. He doesn’t really do as much as I thought to break out of the “religious conservative” candidate niche.

Gilmore: Buddy, you’re just not showing me anything that makes me say, “YES! Nominate HIM!” Sorry, we only have room for one one-term Republican governor in the first tier.

Tancredo: Ah, mention that personal gripe with Karl Rove. That’ll turn you into a TWO issue candidate. I'm sure Rudy will want to keep you around, as you make a convenient punching bag by opposing legal immigration.

Ron Paul: Less nutty, but still way out of the GOP mainstream. Ultimately, he’s taking up time and space that a candidate with a shot at the nomination could be using.

Tommy Thompson: After two bad performances, we got some shouting. It was not an improvement.

[finnman69]

another take....

[eastsider]

Ron Paul: Less nutty ...

LOL. File this under "Damning with faint praise."

[Monterrosa-24]

This is typical of National Review’s mindset as New York sorts of Republicans. But the GOPers in Amarillo, Tupelo, Winston-Salem, and Bowling Green see things a bit differently.

I doubt many grassroots Republicans see his top three in such a positive light.

[pissant]

ROmney was not good. And Huckabee is not even close to president material.

[billbears]

Ron Paul: Less nutty, but still way out of the GOP mainstream. Ultimately, he’s taking up time and space that a candidate with a shot at the nomination could be using.

Indeed. The only candidate to mention the Constitution multiple times or use it regularly during the debate as a basis for his view. To the NRO that is indeed nutty...

Course St. Rudy did mention the Constitution once as a claim for his pro-choice view. As much of a government cheerleader as the NRO has become it's no wonder they love St. Rudy

[RasterMaster]

There were moments when Romney got very strange....pushing too hard.

[hunter112]

Solid answer on a borderline unfair question on the Mormon thing.

Unfair? I think it was a softball question that was designed for Romney to hit out of the park. Blitzer made anyone watching that debate who was undecided about Romney's faith see him give a statesmanlike answer to the question.

Now, ask him why he thinks evangelical Christians do not consider Mormons as Christian, and then you've got an unfair question.

[RasterMaster]

HEADS UP!

2008 CAMPAIGN GOP New Hampshire Dinner
Republican Presidential candidates attend tonight’s GOP Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire. Fmr. Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, Fmr. VA. Gov. James Gilmore, Sen. Sam Brownback (KS), Fmr. HSS Sec. Tommy Thompson, Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA) are expected to attend.

http://www.c-span.org/

[Kevmo]

Here’s the latest inTrade changes.

Seems like Ron Paul & Fred Thompson are the losers, just within the last hour there’s been change.

http://www.intrade.com/jsp/intrade/contractSearch/

2008 Republican Pres Nominee(Others on Request)
2008.GOP.NOM.GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 24.2 24.3 24.3 88537 -0.0
2008.GOP.NOM.ROMNEY
Gov Mitt Romney to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 22.0 22.1 22.1 71181 +0.0
2008.GOP.NOM.THOMPSON(F)
Fred Thompson to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 25.3 26.1 25.3 22720 -0.5
2008.GOP.NOM.MCCAIN
John McCain to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 15.5 15.6 15.6 88311 +0.0
2008.GOP.NOM.GINGRICH
Newt Gingrich to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 2.2 2.4 2.3 37764 -0.0
2008.GOP.NOM.HUCKABEE
Gov Mike Huckabee to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 1.8 2.0 2.0 37742 0
2008.GOP.NOM.PAUL
Ron Paul to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 1.8 1.9 1.9 31441 -1.1
2008.GOP.NOM.RICE
Condoleezza Rice to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.8 0.9 0.9 88237 0
2008.GOP.NOM.HAGEL
Sen Chuck Hagel to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.6 0.8 0.8 33820 0
2008.GOP.NOM.BLOOMBERG
Michael Bloomberg to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.5 0.9 0.4 26239 0
2008.GOP.NOM.BROWNBCK
Sen. Sam Brownback to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.3 0.5 0.5 26174 0
2008.GOP.NOM.CHENEY
VP Richard B Cheney to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.4 0.5 0.5 29281 0
2008.GOP.NOM.BUSH(J)
Gov Jeb Bush to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.4 0.5 0.5 34803 0
2008.GOP.NOM.THOMPSON(T)
Tommy Thompson to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.2 0.4 0.3 25991 0
2008.GOP.NOM.TANCREDO
Tom Tancredo to be the Rep Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.2 0.4 0.2 17792 0
2008.GOP.NOM.POWELL
Colin Powell to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.1 0.2 0.2 24238 0
2008.GOP.NOM.HUNTER
Duncan Hunter to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M 0.1 0.2 0.1 21189 0
2008.GOP.NOM.SANTORUM
Rick Santorum to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 20091 0
2008.GOP.NOM.OWENS
Gov Bill Owens to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 20504 0
2008.GOP.NOM.GRAHAM
Lindsey Graham to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 15756 0
2008.GOP.NOM.ALLEN
George Allen to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 36997 0
2008.GOP.NOM.PAWLENTY
Tim Pawlenty to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 18878 0
2008.GOP.NOM.SANFORD
Mark Sanford to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 20034 0
2008.GOP.NOM.DOLE(E)
Elizabeth Dole to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 15961 0
2008.GOP.NOM.SCHWARZ
Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 10885 0
2008.GOP.NOM.RIDGE
Tom Ridge to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 14625 0
2008.GOP.NOM.FRANKS
Retired General Tommy Franks to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 4314 0
2008.GOP.NOM.GILMORE
Jim Gilmore to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 13365 0
2008.GOP.NOM.WARNER
Senator John Warner to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 3432 0
2008.GOP.NOM.FRIST
Sen Bill Frist to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 24049 0
2008.GOP.NOM.PATAKI
Gov George Pataki to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 23535 0
2008.GOP.NOM.BARBOUR
Haley Barbour to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M - 0.1 - 17441 0

[calcowgirl]

[Kevmo]

I like that chart. It really is starting to tell a story, isn’t it?

Is that heavy volume in April due to the Bugzapper Thread?

[calcowgirl]

Volume was big in early May (the green bars).
Not sure what caused that.
Somebody must have put out a STRONG SELL warning, lol.

[jedward]

Speaking of burning cash (lololol) Nice graphic!

[Liz]

Rooty oughta ditch politics and try out for downhill racer (/sarc).

[George W. Bush]

Unfair? I think it was a softball question that was designed for Romney to hit out of the park. Blitzer made anyone watching that debate who was undecided about Romney's faith see him give a statesmanlike answer to the question.

In the first debate, Romney got the question point-blank. He answered fairly well but there was something a little clench-jawed about it that made you think he was a little angry they'd bring up his religion. Legit enough.

But last night, Wolfie asked Huckabee first and Huckabee smoothly expressed his observation of why that question came to him. But he then gave a pretty smooth and polished orthodox Christian answer. Wolfie then turned to Romney who seemed to handle it much better in this debate than before, possibly because Huckabee broke the ice for a straightforward declaration of faith. Romney seemed to ad-lib the bit about how this is essential to understanding the inalienable rights we are guaranteed under the Constitution, a nice touch.

As for why those two were selected, Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and Romney was a Mormon bishop and stake president. Rudy is apostate and ineligible for communion and McStain never goes to church (Episcopal) nor does his mother who brags about living across the street from it but never attending. However, both Huckabee and Romney have been very personally involved in leadership roles with a strong doctrinal background and that is unusual enough in a presidential candidate to attract attention. You might recall in 1988 that Pat Robertson got badgered over this and was reduced to whining repeatedly, "I'm just a Christian businessman". Kind of weaselly.

Now, ask him why he thinks evangelical Christians do not consider Mormons as Christian, and then you've got an unfair question.

You want unfair? Ask him why Mormons believe orthodox Christians are apostate from the true church (Mormonism).

[George W. Bush]

Liz, did you notice last night when Begala was on, he was saying there was a fresh new poll out that indicated how few Republican primary voters knew Rudy’s liberal positions? I thought that was interesting but forgot to look it up and deleted it off my PVR. Anyway, I’m sure he said that it was in the last two weeks this poll was done.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Pretty much useless .

[stephenjohnbanker]

But...but he will always have 9/11.......

[Liz]

Believe poll indicating how few Republican primary voters knew Rudy’s liberal positions was posted on FR few days ago.

[Liz]

But...but Rudy will always have 9/11.......

(Sniffle)....that's nice (sob).