I don’t know how tonight’s debate will play for or against Rick Perry, but he proved he has a pulse. Smooth, no. He made no errors whatsoever on actual policy issues. He has the money to stay in for awhile and the rest of the field does not. It is about to thin out, or go into serious debt. Maybe Romney wants to pay their bills so they can stay in and by delaying their demise he advantages himself against the inevitable, the time soon coming when the big guns left will turn directly at him with no brush fire diversions. Perry will likely be there should Cain stumble and the rest will be predictable. Romney or Perry.
“Perry will likely be there should Cain stumble and the rest will be predictable. Romney or Perry.”
Agreed. As much as Newt is kicking it in these debates, I think it’s Romney, Perry or Cain at this point. I like Cain and Perry, despise Romney. The current dynamic makes me slightly nervous though-if Cain and Perry both do well, Romney could slither in with 30% or so of the vote-a la McCain 2008. I really hope either Cain or Perry consolidates the anti-Romney vote. I don’t know which one it will be, but right now I think it’s Cain’s to lose.
As for tonight’s debate: I think Perry did better than he has before, and despite the media spin, I think they drew blood for the first time on Romney. I credit Santorum for going after him hard on Romneycare, followed by Gingrich. Perry’s attack was good too, it showed a lot more passion than I’d seen in the past. I thought a better line of attack might be over climate change, cause this is where they have a clear difference on a very important issue. I hope he will go after Mitt and his carbon caps & questionable associations with environmental radicals in Mass in a later debate.
One thing became even clearer tonight-Michele Bachmann’s only purpose for still being there with a $2 million campaign debt is to be Mitt’s stalking horse. Not only did she not lay a glove on him (again), she kept annoyingly interrupting when Santorum and others were finishing their hard-hitting points. Then, when allowed to speak, she changed the subject. This is just pathetic! Her Mitt lovefest is so over the top that even someone with a Forrest Gump IQ could see it! I wish she would drop out, but Mitt has probably committed to paying her campaign debt if she sticks around for a while.