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.
That’s good to hear!
I still stand behind what I said earlier, I don’t care if he has 15 ex-wives, we’re talking about the survival of our nation. If Newt can right the ship, I’m all in with him.
And when he goes to far on some intellectual tangent he can be pulled back in because "he's only the VP".
Volcker was heads above Greenspan.
Greenspan is considered part of the inflation problems we are having now.
Cain’s lack of political experience was shown as a large flaw by Santorum’s appealing to the audience on the 9% NST.
Vet away. I was responding to the poster who said the vitriol toward Perry boils down to a hatred of Mexicans. I included you because the poster addressed that remark to you.
Sorry you didn't get that.
I am keeping in the forefront of my mind that “not one vote has been cast”.
The media love these debates and like Sarah Palin said, they’re more ike “reality shows,” with time limits put on candidates.
The debates are necessary and we have to have a nominee that can crucify the Marxist. Of that I am certain!
The presidential debates will be the most watched and viewed in our history! The Marxist has to be shown for the incompetent, arrogant, stammering fool he is without his telepromter.
You know where I’m going with this: Speaker Newt. I don’t give a rip about his personal baggage. As with Sarah Palin, the media lies and smears about Speaker Newt are infamous, particulary when it comes to his personal life and his first divorce. Perhaps the truth will come to light, because it sure needs to. It didn’t happen the way a lot of peeps here are rabidly posting, but what’s new?
He’s a Roman Catholic convert now and as an RC myself, that means his past sins are forgiven and he has started anew with God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Not good enough for voters?
I am serious that I am remaining open to all five of our candidates and will do my level best to praise the positions I like and carefully take issue with the egregious positions that need to be addressed.
I am pleased and grateful that you will do your best to:
“slam all of the operatatives on FR if they make up deceitful attacks on any of those five. Slimeball PDS-style tactics have no place on FR now that we are trying to figure out someone who is both a viable anti-Romney and a viable GOP nominee to go up against the Obama slime machine.”
Right on, dirtboy!!
FWIW, Herman Cain is one of us! Michele Bachmann couldn’t have been more gracious and nice to me if she wasn’t sincere. She spent a lot of time talking to me! (There’s more but I don’t want to put it on this public forum).
Rick Perry kissed me on my right cheek and held my throw away camera to take the picture of the two of us together....lol.
Speaker Newt talked with me for a good long time too. Looked me straight in the eye and thanked me for appreciating him taking the media to task. We had a good laugh together about media trolls.
Mitt Romney was very nice too, but so what? LOL. I didn’t know what to say when he stopped to talk to me, so I said “good luck,” and he said, “I think I’ll neeed it” -— and Ireplied, “Yep, we’re the Tea Party, ya know.” LOL.
I LIKE all of our candidates. I’ve always been partial to governors for POTUS, but not this time. I think Perry might have jumped in without being prepared, but he has time to make amends, if he can get past that *you don’t have a heart* poor choice of words. I think that hurt most of all.
Cain needs to work on his foreign policy and like you said, all have flaws, but none come close to the flaws of the Marxist _resident.
Keep praying.
You need the background on that.
JustaDumbBlonde has it.
To have a 'PERFECT' Candidate, we would have to nominate JESUS. If we did, some of us would complain about his endorsement of TAXES!!!
He said that we need to pay Caesar what is his.
I really hope Newt stays in at least until the voters cast their ballots!
He brings alot to the debate.
Ron Paul caught Cain is a flat-out lie when he said he didn’t want to audit the Fed. His videos saying this are all over the internet.
Cain IS the Establishment that is causing our present problems!
Cain is part of the problem! Yet he wants to “fix” the problem? I JUST DON’T BUY IT.
He seems to have no agenda and yet he gets all of this money and support. How? So do I trust him? NO I DON’T. AND I NEVER WILL.
Are we surprised that this character has been exposed as a liar and a prop for Romney. Let me give you Herman Cain’s answer to any question about America…..9-9-9. What a joke….go back to the FED or selling pizzas. Like all the idiot neo-cons he thinks if he says something with authority the sheeple will believe him….even the most outragious things, like a 9-9-9 tax plan will save America. Stay tuned for the latest episide
of the “Willard and Herman Good Time Show”. That’s what these debates have turned into.
Johnson wasn't there.
I guess that is why he was a blurrrrrrr ;-) He must have been PISSED.
What a lame troll you are. When you sling mud, you’re expected to back up your accusations. That’s what people who have alleged facts do. Otherwise, they look like, well not as bad as you, but trollish. You are Queen of the Trolls; hate-filled and vulgar.
Terms like "neo-con" will make your stay here very unpleasant. You are aware of how the left uses that slur, right? Or do you have a long history of comfortable slander directed at conservatives?
Paid attention at all to what has happened to the Constitution in the last 2 years alone?
=8-)
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