Posted on 10/11/2011 3:18:34 PM PDT by Kaslin
Greetings from the picturesque campus of the Ivy League's Dartmouth College, the site of tonight's Republican presidential tilt. The Tipsheet will have live coverage of the event, which kicks off at 8:00 pm ET and airs on Bloomberg television (time to break out the TV guide, I suspect). Before you read my take on what to watch for tonight, check out the latest poll from Gallup, which puts the three top-tier candidates within five points of eachother.
Storylines
(1) Iran: Although the debate is supposed to focus almost exclusively on economic issues, today's breaking news bombshell that the Iranian government has been caught financing and coordinating terrorist attacks against targets inside the United States should absolutely be addressed. The candidate with the most granular understanding of the issues at play on this subject is Rick Santorum. I'm eager to hear what he, and all of his rivals, have to say. (Except for Ron Paul, who doesn't think Iranian nuclear aggression is a biggie, and who will find some way to blame us for Iran's poisonous treachery). Another wrinkle: Could Eric Holder's involvement in this story provide an opening for someone to finally raise Solyndra and/or Fast & Furious in one of these debates?
(2) Chris Christie's endorsement of Mitt Romney will likely get some play. Will Rick Perry -- or someone else -- pull the Northeastern RINO card? A Perry spokesman has already come pretty close.
(3) Mormonism: Rick Perry was recently introduced at an event by a pastor who has called Mormonism a "cult." Today, Mitt Romney demanded that Perry repudiate this view, arguing that the Consitution forbids a religious test for the presidency, and that anti-Mormon bigotry is ugly and has no place in American politics. A Perry spokesman has already declined to acede Romney's request, calling the issue a "distraction." I'll be stunned if this kerfuffle doesn't spill over into the debate, and Rick Perry had better be prepared with a damn good answer.
(4) Occupy Wall Street questions are almost inevitable. The base cannot stand the mob of hippies, communists, anti-capitalists, and sundry lefty hangers-on who comprise the bulk of the "movement." Organized labor and the Democrat Party establishment are getting on board, too. He (or she) with the best Occupy Wall Street-related zinger might win one of the biggest headlines tomorrow.
Candidates
Mitt Romney - The former Massachusetts Governor is in his own backyard, leading in the polls, and feeiling buoyed by the Christie "get." Deep down, he knows that Rush is right: Absent a tactonic shift in the race, Mitt will be the Republican nominee. His goal is to keep things moving on the current trajectory. It will be interesting to see if anyone besides Rick Perry will try to jolt Romney out of cruise control.
Herman Cain - With first-tier status comes first-tier scrutiny (and first-tier stage positioning). Expect more exploration of Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan, which I called for in an earlier post. It's been fascinating to watch the Romney-Cain partnership develop over the last few debates. Neither one has anything bad to say about the other, with Rick Perry hardest hit. At some point, if Cain is going to win this thing, he's going to have to attack his ally. Will that first salvo come tonight?
Rick Perry - The guy is still raking in major bucks and has never lost a campaign in his life. Reports of Perry's demise are -- for now -- premature, but the comeback train has to leave the station soon. Perry's campaign unleashed a brutal attack ad against Romneycare this week. Almost on cue (arguably, directly on cue), the White House has leaked the story that several top Romney healthcare advisors were actively involved in crafting Obamacare. If ever there were a time to really tee off on the frontrunner, tonight would be the night. Perry's probably got the most to gain, and he seems to enjoy mixing it up, so he'll likely lead the charge. But will be be able to pull it off succinctly and convincingly, unlike his slow-motion trainwreck in Orlando? The good news: Perry's son says his dad will be "well-rested" this time.
Newt Gingrich - I briefly heard Newt compare Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party movement on a local radio show this morning. I wonder what he means by that, and whether he's read Ann Coulter's column on the subject.
Rick Santorum - The former Senator's expertise and greatest appeal to primary voters lie in the realms of foreign affairs and social issues. Does this mean he'll he flounder in an economic debate? Not at all, but he may feel less relevant.
Jon Huntsman - He needs a strong showing in New Hampshire to justify the continuation of his campaign, so Romney's the guy to beat. But some anti-Mormon rhetoric has seeped into this race over the last few days, and Huntsman might join forces with Romney to beat it back.
Michele Bachmann - One of her previous high water marks came here in the Granite State, when she made a stellar debate debut in June. She'll try to recapture the magic tonight.
Ron Paul - The retiring Texas Representative says many of his "extreme" views of three years ago have been vindicated by intervening events, and have now gained broader credibility and acceptance. He'll have another chance to explain why tonight.
Tonight's debate is being co-sponsored by Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and a local television station. Between Romneycare, Mormonism, and the "Occupy" mob, there could be major fireworks on tap. Tune in, and follow our live chat here at Townhall.
Good reply!
LOL...my father is, too. Seriously.
Every night on the San Antonio news, they have some blurb about the hiring. Truck drivers in support positions making a hundred thousand a year..considering the cost of living here, that is good pay.
Sorry Norman Bates, Perry will win.
Sorry Norman Bates, Perry will win.
he said as President he will never raise past 9% and he has final say with veto power.
I already said why, he gains nothing from it. You think any RINOs who support Romney will vote for a conservative just because people expose Romney as a lying liberal? Hell no, that’s WHY they’re voting for Romney in the first place!
And if Romney is this huge threat, answer this:
1) Why has he never broken 25% in any poll?
2) Why couldn’t he win against JOHN MCCAIN?
Newt Gingrich is asked about the Occupy Wall Street movement at the Bloomberg debate in New Hampshire:
New Gingrich: “If they want to change things, the first thing to do is fire Bernanke, who is a disaster as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The second person to fire is Geithner. The fact is, in both the Bush and the Obama administrations the fix has been in. And I think it's perfectly reasonable to be angry. But let's be clear about who put the fix in. The fix was put in by the federal government. If you want to put people in jail, I want to second what Michele said, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. And let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment and the politicians who put this country in trouble.”
Charlie Rose, moderator: “Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail?”
Gingrich: “Well, in Chris Dodd’s case, go back to look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyist who was close to Freddie Mac. All I'm saying is, everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who were at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country and ought to start with Bernanke, who still has not been exposed for the hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“I want to repeat this, Bernanke has in secret has spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out one group and not bailing another group. I don't see how anybody in the news media demanding the kind of transparency of the Fed that you would demand of every other aspect of the federal government. And I think it is corrupt and wrong for one man to have that kind of secret power.”
Thank you for a little support. South40 is crude and loud. Done here posting replies to him but he is stuck on stupid with his rants on La Raza and Rick. Sick of it.
999 gives special breaks to Po’ inner city people..
Mr Cain calls them “Empowerment Zones”
Exactly. Not only is Cain more conservative, not a crony capitalist career politician, he would also nullify the race card AND cream Hussein in a debate. As for Perrywinkle, I doubt he could win a debate against one of the ESL illegals he granted in-state tuition to. Barry would eviscerate him. I don’t understand why anybody supports him. Is it because he looks like a Ken doll? Unfortunately, his head is just as empty as one.
I dont know....I’d probably vote to eliminate Paul to get rid of his annoying supporters eyebrow.
Negative.
Not an accusation, a reality, just read the thread. Funny how the Perry people think anyone and everyone who does not support their guy is a troll... funny.
Zero has been a complete job-killer.
REAL jobs, that is.
Good summary. I hope it’s not too late , that we’re not stuck with Romney.
Read your own comments lady. No class.
I’m cheering you on as well even if I don’t always say so. I have noticed that most (not all, but most) of the anti-Perry people spam and spam and then when confronted either run to another thread to spam or resort to personal attacks that nothing to do with the issues.
McCain was/is better than Milt in two respects: McCain didn’t author “McCainCare”. And he did spend 5+ years in a Vietnamese sh*thole.
Cain? I’ll say it for the 10,000th time: he’s a shill for Romney. Remember, he backed him in 2008, after RomneyCare was signed into law. Love how he “went after” Romney in last night’s debate...
After the gyrations of the Dhimmi Carter era, and Volcker got things back under control for Reagan, for a long time the Fed had as its self-appointed mandate "price stability" : low inflation.
It was with the Y2K / dot bomb era that they let their ego get in the way of their mission and began playing God with the economy based on their inflated sense of their own infallibility.
Cheers!
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